Eli Wetzel: Volunteering with MCUM

I have worked at MCUM (Monroe County United Ministries) as a volunteer alongside my mom for many years and then independently while I was in middle school during the COVID pandemic. I spent a lot time sorting and boxing up food and personal care items in the MCUM self-sufficiency center. I was able to help other friends learn about MCUM through food drives, cleaning/hygiene drives, other special projects and even a larger food drives with Jackson Creek Middle School, St. Mark's United Methodist and Scout Troop 100.

As for my Eagle Project, the MCUM director really wanted to see a sensory playground for all of the kids in the Compass Early Learning Center. I was excited when they approached me about working on this and I was really excited to work on this for my Eagle Scout project. MCUM received some grants, but I learned really quickly that playgrounds are very expensive and there are a large number of regulations that have to be followed. In the end, we were able to provide the kids in every playground space with sandboxes, a couple fence-mounted sensory activity boards, and painted tricycle tracks for bike riding.