PARIS — Growing up Garrett Haslett of Oxford put in a lot of time into Boy Scouts, but then life interrupted. Not wanting to let all of that time go to waste, he decided to rejoin recently and complete his Eagle Scout project for one of his favorite haunts – the Paris Public Library.
Last week, the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School senior installed two DVD cases he built with the help of others involved in Scouts at the library to help organize and store the nonprofit’s DVD collection.
Garrett joined Boy Scouts in kindergarten and participated all the way through eighth grade, then he stopped going because he was “busy with life.”
“Funny how that happens sometimes,” he said.
Fast forward a couple of years when he realized he wanted to become an Eagle Scout.
“I decided, ‘I’ve come this far, it’s too bad to stop now,’” Garrett said. He joined Pack 130 again two or three months ago.
Garrett has spent a lot of time at the Paris Public Library and began doing community service there several years ago. There he would wash the windows, sweep the floor and help organize the DVDs.
“I got to know Mike really well,” he said about Mike Dignan, the library director. About two or three years ago, Garrett asked Dignan if there was an Eagle Scout project he could do for the library.
“He said, ‘Well I’ve got nothing about complaints about the library annex,’” Garrett recalled. Previously there was one small shelf for the DVDs – which one of the new shelves is now built above – and the DVDs were stacked high as if they were a part of a Jenga game.
Garrett remembered the library’s need and set to completing the DVD cases for his Eagle Scout project. Part of the process to become an Eagle Scout includes management training. It requires Scouts fundraise the money for their projects, recruit others to help with the construction and delegate tasks.
Garrett secured donations from Chandler Funeral Homes in Paris, Buy the Fire, Pat’s Hot Tubs & Pools and The Big Rig Shop, all in Oxford. With the donated funds, he was able to purchase the wood for the project at Record Lumber in Oxford.
For labor, Garrett asked Troop Leader Jim Hatch, his son, Matthew, and former Scout, Tyler Rondeau, to help him build and stain the shelves. Garrett helped Tyler with his Eagle Scout project about four years ago.
“He wanted returned the favor, so he helped me on my Eagle project,” Garrett said, smiling.
And now the Paris Public Library has 3-by-7-foot and 4.8-by-6.3-foot shelves so patrons can now peruse the DVD collection without fear that the stacks could come tumbling down.
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