Marlboro Eagle Scout Brings Memories To Life At Senior Community

MARLBORO, NJ — Marlboro resident Jason Lavery has always dreamed of becoming an Eagle Scout.

Lavery, who’s currently a senior at Howell High School and a member of Marlboro Troop 86, has been in the Boy Scouts program since kindergarten.

After starting out as a Cub Scout years ago, Lavery earned his Eagle Scout rank (the highest rank attainable by youth members of the Boy Scouts of America) in September.

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In order to achieve Eagle Scout status, scouts must complete an Eagle Scout project, which calls on them to craft a project with a significant impact in their community.

“I’ve always been a leader within my troop,” Lavery said. “I started off as a patrol leader, then I was an assistant patrol leader, and then senior patrol leader — which is basically the leader of the troop.”

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“For the Eagle Scout project, I really wanted to do a project that meant something to me and had a lasting impact,” Lavery continued.

As he was looking for project ideas, Lavery came across a community post from Sunrise Senior Living, a senior care neighborhood in Marlboro.

According to Lavery, the neighborhood was looking for someone to build a flower cart as a life station, intended to evoke memories of gardening or shopping at a local flower market.

“The purpose of a life station is for people in the residency to be able to touch things, see things, and come together as a community to bring back memories from when they were younger,” Lavery said. “It gives them something to talk about, to look forward to, and that they can use and touch and see.”

For Lavery, the idea of crafting a life station posed a personal connection. His own grandfather suffered from memory loss, so Lavery immediately felt drawn to the project.

In the end, he decided building the life station would be his Eagle Scout project.

Except, Lavery didn’t just build the flower cart — in addition, he built a handyman life station (which offers residents the opportunity to use safe and familiar workshop accessories) and a sewing life station (intended to evoke memories of a sewing hobby or occupation).

“With research, I came up with ideas that I thought would help the most to bring back memories,” Lavery said. “This was something that meant a lot to me.”

Throughout the construction phase of Lavery’s project, he received help from his troop, friends, family members, neighbors and local businesses.

Lavery made sure to add personal touches to the stations as well, weaving his own and other people’s stories into each cart.

“There were so many stories that came with donations for this project,” Lavery said. “Especially with the sewing station and handyman station. I had a lot of buttons that belonged to someone’s mother who passed away, and the story behind those buttons now gets to live on with the station.”

“Same thing with the handyman station,” Lavery continued. “The handyman kit on it belonged to my grandfather, so he gets to live on with that station too.”

When the time came to deliver the stations to Sunrise Senior Living in July, Lavery said he had a warm welcome from the neighborhood and its residents.

“They loved them a lot,” Lavery said. “Which was super surprising to me…they [Sunrise Senior Living] set up a whole ribbon-cutting ceremony for the residents and it was a big reveal for them. They were super excited.”

Since installing the stations at Sunrise, Lavery said he’s kept in touch with the community on how residents have received each station.

Though he was initially unsure how residents would react to the two additional stations, Lavery said the residents have been engaging with them just as much as with the flower cart.

“They’re always using the sewing stations, touching the buttons, flipping through the pages of projects they could sew,” Lavery said. “And at the handyman station, there’s always unfinished projects they can touch and they’re always trying to come up with ideas on how to finish them.”

For Lavery, completing these life stations has not only been about helping Marlboro’s senior residents, but also about educating people on what life stations can do.

Since completing his Eagle Scout project, Lavery said he hopes the stations get more notice and has even created a website for people to visit and learn more about the project.

“I think it’s [life stations] something that not many people know about, and it’s something that could really help,” Lavery said. “So it’s something I want other scouts and people who are looking to do something for the community to know about…hopefully they can help give back to their communities too.”

To learn more about Lavery’s Eagle Scout project, you can visit his website.

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