Andrew Amacher, white hat, center, gets ready to measure for his Eagle Scout project at the Colonel Davenport House on Arsenal Island, Illinois. Fellow scouts and adult volunteers helped him build a new handicap accessible ramp, which he expected to complete this week.
By Barb Arland-Fye
Editor
Belatedly, I remembered the Sept. 11 birthday of the late Joanne Forlini, the mother of two of our Catholic Messenger staffers, Anne Marie Amacher and Tony Forlini. Joanne died nine years ago. Tears welled up in Anne Marie’s eyes when I asked how she handled that sad day. Besides missing her mom, Anne Marie learned that her son Andrew, a busy senior at Alleman High School in Rock Island, Illinois was up against a tight schedule to complete his Eagle Scout project. It appeared he did not have enough volunteers to assist.
Earning the rank of Eagle Scout, a significant achievement, is among Andrew’s lofty goals. Andrew, who turns 18 on Sept. 28, is an honorary member of the Messenger team, practically since birth, as is his older sister, Alexandra, now a college graduate and TV newscast director. Both joined us in the newsroom as young children on occasion and their names appeared on our “Out of the Office” dry erase board.
Anne Marie has my admiration for balancing her family life with her career as assistant editor of the Messenger. She maintains a steadfast commitment to both and the result is that her husband and children are thriving and Anne Marie keeps our staff organized while juggling her reporting and design duties.
A member of Scouts BSA Troop 258 in Rock Island, Andrew has been a scout since first grade. He is also a National Honor Society member involved in student council, basketball, ACES academic team, ICTM mathematics team, martial arts and ministry as an altar server.
Andrew chose to build a new wheelchair ramp to replace the worn-out ramp at the Colonel Davenport House on Arsenal Island for his Eagle Scout project. “He was inspired to do something on the Arsenal after he attended a scouting camporee last fall on the island,” Anne Marie explained. It was a worthy project and a noble goal and she worried it would fail to materialize.
Construction projects are not part of my skill set but I offered to volunteer for moral support. I threw in a bonus offer by volunteering my husband Steve’s talents and skills in construction. Anne Marie gave me a hug and afterwards I called Steve on my smartphone, praying he would agree to volunteer with me, which he did.
We missed the first day, Saturday, when Andrew, both of his parents, Bryce and Anne Marie, other scouts and volunteers handled the tear down. Joseph Gusse, president and CEO of Joseph Architectural Group, oversaw destruction and construction. His wife, Kathy, who is Anne Marie’s best friend, also helped. Steve and I volunteered on Sunday. My big contribution: helping hold boards in place while someone else did measurements and locating a volunteer’s misplaced $110 package of nails and bolts. I helped Kathy clean up after lunch (eating the leftover cucumbers and carrots).
In his apostolic exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”), Pope Francis said the love between members of the same family leads them to “ever deeper and more intense communion, which is the foundation and soul of the community of marriage and the family.” In turn, “Friends and other families are part of this larger family, as well as communities of families who support one another in their difficulties, their social commitments and their faith.”
Andrew demonstrated his dedication to this Eagle Scout project with every hole he drilled in a board and every bolt he screwed into a concrete footing. The rest of us, supporting him in small and large ways, were family.
(Contact Barb Arland-Fye at arland-fye@davenportdiocese.org)
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