smccabe34

"Interesting, in what way did you show leadership?"

I believe that by organizing the event, it did show leadership. No where does it direct that the project must show leadership to boys in your troop. I believe that by coordinating the marketing with the various sources (8 in all) I "lead" them in what to do.

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"During the blood drive, did you direct the nurses on proper venipuncture technique? Did you direct the setting up of the screening, blood draw, and resting areas?"

Let's not be stupid, obvisouly, due to legal restrictions I couldn't direct the nurses on medical technique, but I did direct the setting up of the areas.

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"I realize you had to oraganize a place, did other scouts assist you?"

The blood drive was held at my Troop's chartering organization. I held it ther because it was immediatly after Sept. 11, and I felt it was a good service to the members of the church to have a blood drive immediatly after church. No other scouts assisted in setting up the location.

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"How many hours did other people besides yourself and the blood bank people put in the project?"

In all, there were 101 volunteer hours committed to the blood drive, 27.5 hours were mine, and the rest (73.5 hours) were given by other people.

I did a Blood Drive for my Eagle Project, and believe if executed correctly it is sufficient if not better than most projects. The typical Eagle Project consists of some manual labor (i.e. building picnic tables, painting, etc.), and I believe that this project is an excellent alternative to the manual labor route and allows the Life scout to demonstrate leadership on a broader scale. The project makes the scout go out into the community to secure a location, marketing, food, workers, a blood drive staff, and much more. This gives the scout a much more beneficial look at the real world. (It allows them to start networking.) So, back to the orignial question -- Is Organizing a Blood Drive an Eagle Project? I say absolutly!