Scout plans to revamp Franklin Square church

Lenny Burger 13, Troy Gerrity 17, Scott Marzigliano 17, and Peter Grieco 18 feed the masses.The members of the Bellmore Boy Scouts serve food to raise money for the eagle scout project to beautify the Grace Baptist Church in Franklin Square and help Christopher Kosowski gain eagle scout status.

Shane Molinari/Herald

Peter Grieco 18, Jeffrey Gallagher 17, William Novello 17, Zachary Weiss 12, Andrew Gallagher 13, Chris Ham 12 , Tomas Ham 10 and Christopher Kosowski 16 get ready to serve food. The Bellmore Boy Scouts raise money for the eagle scout project to beautify the Grace Baptist Church in Franklin Square.

Shane Molinari/Herald

Christopher Kosowski 16 stands in front of the proposed wall that will be beautify with his eagle scout project. The Bellmore Boy Scouts raise money for the eagle scout project to beautify the Grace Baptist Church in Franklin Square by serving food to the community.

Shane Molinari/Herald

Chris Ham 12, Lenny Burger 13, Jeffrey Gallagher 17, Peter Grieco 18 and Troy Gerrity 17. The members of the Bellmore Boy Scouts raise money for the eagle scout project to beautify the Grace Baptist Church in Franklin Square.

Shane Molinari/Herald

• 
• 
• 
• 

Boy Scout Christopher Kosowski, of Bellmore’s Troop 285, held a fundraiser at Grace Baptist Church in Franklin Square on March 24, along with several other members of the troop, to help fund his Eagle Scout project, which includes several improvement projects at Grace Baptist — regularly attended by Kosowski and his family. Dozens of local residents attended the event, and $1,220 was raised for the project.

A lifelong Scout with Troop 285, Kosowski’s project centers on revamping the church, including replacing the church’s aging backyard fence with a new wooden fence, painting a chain-link fence on the side of the church, adding privacy strips to the fences and painting part of the church’s façade.

Kosowski’s project doesn’t stop there. In the coming weeks, he said, he plans to build and install two wooden benches, a 6-by-8-foot plastic shed, flower planters and a small wooden sign — inscribed with his name, troop and project — outside of the church. Additionally, he said, he’ll paint the church’s child-care area, and purchase a rug and sign displaying, “Jesus Loves You” for the space.

“This will encourage the children to learn more about God,” said Kosowski, 16, adding, “[I wanted] to help to make the church more nice-looking, and make it look peaceful. [Grace Baptist] always helps out everyone you can think of — they take people off the streets, and will feed anyone who walks in and help them out. So I think it's my turn to help them out and fix up a portion of the church."

The Boy Scouts' Eagle rank focuses on leadership and working with others toward a common, community goal. Scouts are required to hold the rank of Life Scout, earn nearly 21 merit badges and hold a Scout leadership position for six months in order to receive the designation. Once Eagle Scout projects are completed, Eagle Scout candidates have to attend a Scout Master’s conference, be approved by a board of review, submit an application with the entire Eagle project to the Nassau County Council, be approved by their committee and then be approved by a national committee.

Kosowski said he plans to begin his project in May or late June, and that it's projected to cost $2,300.

Troop 285 includes around 20 Scouts from Bellmore and North Bellmore.

For more information on Kosowski’s project, including how to donate to the fund, call him at (516) 221-5898.

Click here to view all of our photos: https://www.liherald.com/photos.