Eagle Scout honors younger sister, builds new playground
Eagle Scout project
WEST ALLIS (WITI) -- Nearly 100 volunteers came together on Saturday August 16th to assemble a new playground at Jefferson Elementary school in West Allis. The effort was all part of Zac Blohm's Eagle Scout service project. The playground was dedicated to Zac's baby sister, Veronica who at five weeks old passed away.
Zac has been a scout most of his life. He is now going for his Eagle scout rank and this is the project that will get him there. So for the last 18 months he and the community worked to fund raise. His goal, to take the small old playground and upgrade it.
"This will be really nice to have the extra space and extra climbing equipment the kids love to climb," said Jefferson Elementary Kindergarten teacher, Valerie Gengeler.
The project was made possible through generous donations and countless hours of bake sales, box top collections and dance-a-thons. Zac exceeded his $55,000 goal and raised more than $100,000.
"I'm extremely happy. 2 playgrounds in a year and a half I think that's crazy" said Zac Blohm.
The playground, Veronica's place, has made children and parents very excited about the upgrade.
"We had a picnic the other day and the kids were already talking about it and the parents told me the kids make them drive past the school everyday to see if it's here yet," said Gengeler.
"It really gave our family a way to heal after everything. We needed a big project, we really sunk our heart into it and it's just really special and we're thrilled it's coming together now," said Zac's mom, Heather Kosloske.
Now many kids will have the opportunity to play on a brand new, safe playground in West Allis.