Eagle Scouts, others help woman in need

By Mickey Thompson

Courtesy Dawn Priddy

Volunteers, including those from Boy Scout Troop 221, work to clean up an Elizabethtown yard.

Mickey Thompson

Before

Mickey Thompson

After

McDonald’s, Rally’s, Sonic, Chick-fil-a, Boy Scout Troop 221 and Habitat for Humanity linked up

do when they come together? In November of last year, they collaborated to assist a local woman in a difficult situation.

Mary Corbet, a woman living on her own, came to possess a house in Elizabethtown because of a multitude of benefactors. The house had an unruly and overgrown yard. The one-acre backyard of this home had been left untouched for nearly a decade and its overgrowth was flowing onto the the neighbors’ land.

Corbet was going to face a reoccuring fine from the city of Elizabethtown if she did not fix it in a timely manner. She was neither physically nor financially able to do as the city requested.

This is where that matchup came in. Boy Scout Troop 221, in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity’s Helping Hands program, reached out to this individual late last November. Led by Troop 221 as an Eagle Scout Project, numerous volunteers from both organizations began to reshape Mary Corbet’s backyard.

Habitat for Humanity and Boy Scout Troop 221 provided leadership and volunteers, while McDonald’s, Rally’s, Sonic and Chick-fil-a donated food and drinks for the workers. Within two weeks, the project was completed, and the yard restored.

Though the project itself was a simple matter, it had long-lasting effects on Corbet, and through her, the community.

“My faith in people was really low at that point,” Corbet said. The situations leading up to Corbet receiving the house included a few incidents in which people deceived and took advantage of her, and caused Corbet to loose faith in the goodness of people.

Through the charity of the project, Corbet said, her faith in people has been restored. She realizes now that there are people in the world who, “if you ask, they will help.”

This cleanup effort also impacted the community around Corbet’s house. The back yard was thoroughly overgrown on each side and loomed ominously over the neighbors’ yards.

Not only did this impact the community for the short term, but it built goodwill for the charity that will continue to help others.  

“If there is ever a charity that I get enough money to give to, it’s going to be Helping Hands," Corbet said of the Habitat for Humanity program.

Mickey Thompson is a junior who is homeschooled.