Oakley Campbell is helping fund life-saving stations in two locations, and he is using an Eagle Scout project to do so.
Campbell, who will turn 16 this month, is memorializing his late grandmother “Queen Doreen” Saint Don’s rabid support of his scouting life by selling her jewelry to raise money that could save lives at Silvershell Beach and at other Marion swimming areas. Doreen Saint Don passed away on March 10 after a battle with cancer.
“She left most of this to me, and we decided on a sea theme because it’s Massachusetts and near Cape Cod,” said Campbell of Sunday’s yard sale, part of an event held by the First Congregational Church of Marion. He figures he earned close to $300. He will do it again during a September fair at the Acushnet Grange.
A life-saving station is essentially a kit that could come in handy should there be an emergency when no lifeguard is present. Campbell’s focus is mainly on Silvershell Beach and any wharfs in town that would lack such a kit. Altogether, he reports, equipping Marion’s beach areas with life-saving stations will approximate $4,000 in total cost and another $200 to “cement them down.”
“It’s good to have them there, make sure no one gets hurt,” he said. “I know after 4:00 pm when the lifeguards are off, a lot of people go swimming so it’s going to be really helpful.”
With 11 years of scouting under his belt, the rising junior at Upper Cape Tech is in the final stages of his pursuit of Eagle rank. He also still needs to earn a couple of merit badges, a routine exercise by comparison.
Scouting dominated Campbell’s life when he was younger, but he has cut back to weekly involvement as his focus increases on a career in the automotive field. With two years of high school remaining, he has already picked the University of Northern Ohio for its NASCAR, diesel and other automotive-specific programs.
Campbell doesn’t have a dream job in mind at this point. He is old school and prefers older cars that can be maintained by their operators.
“They’re easier to work with, a lot easier,” he said.
By Mick Colageo