A parking lot in Hemingford was cleaned on August 3, which was Drew Varner’s birthday. Not only was it Varner’s birthday, but also cleaning the parking lot was his Eagle Scout project, which he had been planning for two months, where he had to fill out paperwork and get friends and family to help him clean up. He is the son of Shawn and Amy Varner.
“I probably have had about ten hours in paperwork alone. I had to fill out a budget. When you budget, you have to try and include everything. It would have to be a rough estimate. So, I did the rough estimate. I figured out the fine details of the project, and then once you figure out all that stuff, you have to take it up to Scottsbluff to the Scout Shop, and they will give you the go-ahead,” said Varner.
Before Drew could take all the paperwork to Scottsbluff, he had to get signatures from his scoutmaster and committee chair on his scout troop. His beneficiary was Hemingford High School.
“The Adventure West Council for our region is Gary Shoemaker from Scottsbluff. So once I got into contact with him, the project started flowing better,” said Varner.
Drew estimated $450 for his project, which ended up costing $472.
“With gracious donations from the community, there was no real fundraising we had to do,” said Drew Varner.
The gracious donations mostly came from the Alliance community, which was willing to donate. Drew said he was grateful for those who helped him complete this project. The project consisted of Drew and his team sweeping the parking lot, painting lines and making stencils to put on trash cans and guard rails.
“Hemingford High School had the line paint and rollers for that. Then from there, we got stencils made. My mom and sister stayed up for two hours one-night making stencils. So, they made Bobcat stencils, a paw print, and then the Eagle Scout logo to raise school spirit,” said Varner.
Amy and Drew’s sister, Katelyn, enjoyed helping Drew make the stencils.
“Katelyn and I did all the stenciling for the project. You can say that we are the crafty ones in the family. I enjoyed helping him achieve his goals,” said Amy Varner.
The trash cans in the parking lot were rusty and had not been emptied in a while. The trash cans were emptied, repainted and stenciled, where Shawn Varner Drew’s father helped paint the stencils on the trash cans. Drew had to give leadership throughout the project and could not do the whole project alone.
“One of the requirements is that you have to give leadership through a service project. Once I get one more merit badge. I will turn in my Eagle Scout Project and my Eagle Scout Application to the Scout Shop. They will review, then they will set up a board review,” said Drew Varner.
There were over 14 people who helped with the entire project at one point. People came and went as they wanted. Most people stayed for two hours, and the project took about six hours with 65 person-hours of work.
