'Doing a good deed'

Annabeth Miller of the Daily Statesman and Gladsia Bland, widow of Herbert Bland, present Boy Scout Den 14 with the Make a Difference Day Award at Bland Mini-park outside Keller Library. Pictured are: (front row, from left) Luke Dachs, Alex Allstun, Steven Harrellson, Justin Robey, Brandon Sindle, Drew Rodgers, Greg Coleman (back row) Den Leader Bennetta Harrellson, Gladsia Bland, Annabeth Miller and Den Chief Wes Rodgers. [Click to enlarge]

On sunny spring and summer days at Keller Library, one is likely to find some young boys on the library grounds. But they won't be reading or playing, they'll be working, pulling the weeds out of and watering the Herbert Bland mini-park that sits outside the building.

They are the Boy Scouts of Den 14, and they're participating in a project which was started in July 2002, when they were still Cub Scouts.

On Friday afternoon the arrived at the library, expecting to pick weeds out of the garden. What they found instead was a surprise, as Gladsia Bland, the widow of the garden's namesake, greeted them.

Gladsia Bland (sitting), widow of Herbert Bland, meets the Boy Scouts of Den 14 for the first time. She thanked them for the work they did on the mini-park, which was dedicated in memory of her late husband. [Click to enlarge]

"I think it's delightful what they've done," said Bland. "It's fantastic."

She was there to see the Boy Scouts receive a great honor, the Make a Difference Day Award, which was presented to the boys of Den 14 by Daily Statesman Editor Annabeth Miller.

Recently, Den Leader Bennetta Harrellson entered her Cub Scouts in the contest, sponsored by USA Weekend Magazine, which recognizes community service efforts across the United States. USA Weekend Magazine is a part of The Daily Statesman Sunday edition.

Much to her surprise, her Cub Scouts were picked to receive one of the awards, and they are being featured in this weekend's edition of USA Weekend Magazine.

"I wanted to send it in just to see what would happen," said Harrellson. "I really didn't think we'd win anything, because there are so many people across the country doing much more important things. But we did. We're thrilled to get the national recognition."

Harrellson didn't tell the boys about the award, waiting until they were presented with it Friday afternoon. When they learned of the news, they were elated.

"I feel great," said Justin Robey, a member of Den 14. "It makes a difference, and it feels good doing what other people don't get to do."

Justin said the work was easy, except for those summer months when the hot sun was glaring down on them.

"It feels good to be having fun and doing a good deed," said Greg Coleman, another Boy Scout.

Community service is one of the fundamental elements of scouting organizations, from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts to Brownies and Junior Girl Scouts. In fact, both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts share a common motto - to "do a good deed daily." So when it came time for her Cub Scouts to do their project, Harrellson knew exactly what they could do.

"We started it because we were having our meetings at the library in the community room," Harrellson said. "And of course there's no charge for us to use the meeting room, so we wanted to do something to repay them for allowing us to do that."

She said she had been wanting the children to do some sort of garden work. The Bland mini-park was a prime candidate for some sprucing up. It had been moved to Keller Library from the site of the old library, and was in a state of disrepair.

"When it was at the other library, it was never tended," said Bland's widow.

The Cubs began planting some flowers on the grounds, and library officials decided to do some landscaping outside the building. "Of course we weren't qualified to do that, but they had the money to pay someone to do the landscaping and no one to take care of it," Harrellson said. "So we agreed that if they would put the landscaping in, we would take care of it, water and weed it, for two years."

The Cubs then had the fortune of meeting Delores Tucker of Modern Woodmen, whose organization wanted to put some money into a community service project. That's when the boys turned to the Bland mini-park once again.

The Cub Scouts then worked diligently to fulfill their obligation to keep the library grounds looking their best. Each of them would take turns volunteering for one week in the summer, watering and weeding the garden.

"They enjoy it, they have a good time," said Harrellson. "Sometimes it's a little tedious when you have other things to do, but they're very responsible. And the parents take care of making sure it's done. I'm really proud of both the kids and the parents."

Harrellson points out how much the project has aesthetically improved the library grounds. "I didn't realize how much difference it would make, but after we put those shrubs and stuff in, you could see a tremendous difference."

And she isn't the only one who's noticed. Those who work at the library have seen the difference, as well.

"The work they've done has made the grounds so much nicer," said Connie Hutchcraft, the library's assistant director. "They've been very faithful to their work. We have really, really appreciated what they've done for the library."

Hutchcraft said that even in the hottest days of summer, she sees the Cub Scouts outside the library, taking care of their obligation to beautify their community.

"It might be 95 or 98 degrees outside, and they'll still be out there watering the plants and pulling up weeds," she said. "We can't thank them enough."

Harrellson said that, while the boys may not be old enough to truly appreciate what they've done for Dexter, they will one day.

"If they hadn't done that, I honestly don't think the library would've been able to have the landscaping, because they didn't have the funding or the ability to take care of it," Harrellson said.

"Hopefully, when they're older, they can come back and bring their kids and say 'I took care of this and I planted it and that's why it's still here.'"

Matt Sanders may be reached via email at msanders@dailystatesman.com