Aaron Minshall, Life Scout from Dansville Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Troop 21, chose his Eagle Project carefully. The purpose of an Eagle Project is to plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project. It is one step in obtaining the Eagle rank. For months prior to making his decision, Aaron gathered information locally and from the internet regarding the types of Eagle Projects that other scouts had completed. Following up on a tip from a coworker of his mother’s, Aaron contacted Sharon Windsor of Turning Pointe Donkey Rescue to see if he could be of assistance in building shelters for rescued donkeys.

Aaron submitted a formal report to the BSA Council requesting permission to help Turning Pointe Donkey Rescue for his Eagle Project. Once this permission was granted, Aaron began soliciting donations from area businesses and individuals.

The planning and approval stages of Aaron’s project took several months, leading up to the count down to the big weekend! Friday, November 10^th was a beautiful autumn day…Aaron and four helpers were able to take advantage of the weather to prime the siding before the cold, wet weather hit. On Saturday morning, in spite of the freezing rain and snow flurries, thirty-three volunteers made up of BSA Troop 21 scouts, family, and friends showed up to assist Aaron in carrying out his service project. Three shelters were built on Saturday, with Aaron and five helpers returning on Sunday to paint the shelters. The weather was still cold, so heaters were set up inside of the shelters to help the paint adhere and dry. Maxine Bazzy and Carolyn Jones provided a hot lunch of homemade chili for all of the volunteers. Over 220 hours of volunteer work for Turning Point Donkey Rescue was completed on the weekend of November 10-12, 2006.

Aaron has successfully completed the construction end of his Eagle Project and has also helped provide several donkeys with nice, warm shelters for the winter months ahead. More recently, Sharon Windsor has added trim and interior walls to customize the shelters.

Thank you to Scoutmaster John Briggs, the Boy Scouts of Troop 21, and all of the family and friends who worked on this project.

Many thanks, also, to the following businesses and individuals who made donations of materials and money that were vital to this project’s success: (in alphabetical order)

            ACE Hardware, Mason, MI

            Carter Lumber, Fowlerville, MI

            Chelsea Lumber, Chelsea, MI

            Dansville Veterinary Clinic, Dansville, MI

            Fairhaven Auto Parts, Inc.

            Kerr Hardware, Mason, MI

            MPC Lumber, Williamston, MI

            Risner Construction, Dansville, MI

            Swan Fuel, Dansville, MI

            Mark DeGroot

            Emery Guylas

            Roni Hulbert

            Kerry Minshall

            Nancy Minshall

            Marilyn Viera, DO, MSW

    Sharon Windsor

TPR founder and president Sharon Windsor also donated the steel that the troop needed but, Sharon was busy at TPDR’s booth at the 2006 Horse Spectacular and was not going to be home to help coordinate this effort. Aaron’s parents and Eileen McKee oversaw this 2 day construction project while Sharon worked at the Expo!

Everyone at TPDR wishes to extend a big THANK YOU to Aaron and his troop and to Eileen and the 30 plus other volunteers who helped make this day a success!

A special thank you also to Arlene Dickerson who volunteered her time both the week before the boy scouts came, and spent two days cleaning up the kennel house so that the boys would have a dry and clean place to take a break and eat. She even donated a nice table for that reason. Arlene’s daughter Maribeth is a TPDR member.

THANKS to all involved! Many donkeys will have a warm dry place to “hang out” this winter due to the efforts of Aaron and his troop!