Boy Scout Leads Effort For New Benches On Old Plank Road Trail

NEW LENOX, IL -- A 13-year-old boy scout from New Lenox led an effort to install new benches on the Old Plank Road Trail between Frankfort and Joliet Township. The project was part of Brendan Hawkins' quest to become and Eagle Scout, according to a news release from the Forest Preserve District of Will County. Hawkins organized a team of volunteers that included his friends and family last weekend putting up the 10 new benches.

Hawkins, a student at Liberty Junior High School in New Lenox, had the assistance of fellow Scouts from Troop 49, friends and family members. He supervised the project and was responsible for organizing the work schedule and lining up food and water donations, including the $500 needed to have a plaque placed on one of the benches to mark the Troop's involvement with the project.

The new benches, all placed along the trail between Harlem Avenue and Park Road, are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, replacing many of the deteriorating old ones that were not.

"I was happy to do something constructive that would help the community," Hawkins said. "If people get tired, then they can sit and rest."

He received praise from Renee Gauchat, the Forest Preserve's volunteer supervisor.

"The project will benefit the District because people can sit and rest on the benches and, as a result, they are more likely to return to the trail," Gauchat said.

Hawkins wants to become an Eagle Scout because his dad, Andrew Hawkins, the Forest Preserve's director of planning and development, attained the same rank when he was a teen.

"I thought it would be cool," Brendan said. "Eagle Scouts are leaders, they're respected and it's an accomplishment."

Photo courtesy of the Forest Preserve District of Will County