Two scouts from Troop 7 attain Eagle rank

George Merrick Troop 7 was founded in 1922 in the City Beautiful, Coral Gables, Florida, and is one of the oldest troops in the United States. Part of the troop's long history includes many of its members attaining the highest rank in scouting, that of Eagle. In 2009, Troop 7 was proud to have two more scouts join the hundreds before them by becoming Eagles.

The first was William "Trae" Kerdyk, son of City Commissioner Bill Kerdyk and his wife Lynn. Trae's project beneficiary was the city of Coral Gables. Trae had to obtain permission from both the city of Coral Gables and Miami-Dade County in order to install monofilament line recycling bins along the Coral Gables Waterway. These recycling bins are a statewide program and more information can be found at http://myfwc.com/mrrp/

Obtaining permissions to place the bins was a complicated and involved process that took Trae well over a year to coordinate. Once all parties agreed he was able to proceed and decided to add a cleanup portion to his project as well. Two recycle bins were installed at Cocoplum Circle on either side of the bridge. Extensive garbage and trash in this area was collected.

Once that was accomplished it was followed by launching seven canoes in the Coral Gables Waterway from the bridge area and everyone proceeded upstream about two to three miles to the Little Girl Scout House at the corner of Bird and Red roads, where another recycle bin was installed. Approximately 10 bags of trash were collected between the bridge area and along the waterway.

The second scout to obtain Eagle was Geronimo L. Fernandez, whose project beneficiary was the Coral Gables Woman's Club. Geronimo worked with a state-certified arborist, Bob Brennan, former Scoutmaster of Troop 21 in Coconut Grove, in order to obtain expert advice on landscaping a difficult area on the north entrance of the historic Woman's Club, started in 1923 and built in 1937.

Due to construction that was performed to improve the circular driveway entrance under cover, there was too much sand in the soil. Geronimo dug up the old soil and mixed it with new fresh black dirt, so the new landscaping would "take" to the area and restore the beauty to the front of the club.

In addition to the landscaping, he also pressure cleaned the front of the building (coral rock) as well as the historic fountain dedicated to Eunice Merrick, and the iconic cement sign. The sign was also carefully repainted and brought back to its original brilliance. You can view the club at http://coralgableswomansclub.org/

Troop 7 meets every Wednesday evening in their building located at 1107 South Greenway Drive in Coral Gables. For more information please contact their Scoutmaster, Robin V. Burr at 305-794-1541 or visit http://www.Troop7.org