Zac Soles loves dogs and his community. He also needed a project to get his Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Scouting America, formerly Boy Scouts of America.
Soles is a member of the Portage Creek Scout District and to earn an Eagle rank, a scout must commit years of work earning merit badges for accomplishments such as rifle shooting, swimming, tying knots and first aid, while also along the way demonstrating outdoor survival skills, camping prowess, moral clarity and all-around character.
But even all that is not enough for the final rank. The final measure is a community project — a bit of service giving back to the community that raised them.
That all works for Soles, who explained he got into Scouting to better himself.
“I’ve always wanted to know when to do the right things and be more prepared,” he said.
A community project seemed right in his wheelhouse, but with a whole community to consider, what sort of service could he offer? Soles looked to his dog Monty for answers.
“I have a dog,” he explained. “And I knew from the start I wanted to do something with dogs.”
La Grange is a community filled with pedestrians. They walk to City Hall, the movie theater, stores up and down the downtown area, the library and countless cafes and restaurants and more and more, those pedestrians hold leashes. At the end of the leashes, dogs — family members, really — who walk as much as anyone and who get as thirsty and as tired on a hot day, Soles saw something worth doing. He thought of Monty, his Bernese mountain/poodle mix and he envisioned a downtown lined with little canine comforts — bowls filled with water.
“My dog is big, and he gets hot extremely fast,” Soles said.
He saw some businesses sometimes set out bowls, some didn’t, but there was no organized effort to provide bowls or bowl stands to set the bowls apart and to keep them from getting knocked over. Soles saw, in short, his Eagle Scout project.
“I was in my office and Zac came in and … he told me a little about the dog bowl idea and I thought it was a great idea and I would share it at our next membership meeting,” said La Grange Business Association CEO Cathy Domanico.
The group comprises local businesses, mostly in the downtown area, and their owners would be the ones left to care for, fill and set out the bowls and the stands. And they loved the idea.
“It was something the membership was very struck by,” Domanico said. “They were very excited to help, and they loved the idea of helping our furry friends during the summer months.”
In total 16 shops got on board and the project extended throughout the central business district downtown and beyond to a few shops outside the immediate downtown.
From there, Soles got to work building the stands with other Scouts. They cut the wood, painted the pieces blue and green — the colors of La Grange — and they put the stands together for Soles to deliver to the businesses.
“It was a great showing and what Zac did, I thought was very thoughtful,” said Domanico. “I was really impressed with Zac. I thought he did a great job. He was an entrepreneurial young man and we wanted to open our doors to him in any way possible.”
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
