On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God. On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to my country. I reaffirm my allegiance to the three promises of the Scout Oath. I thoughtfully recognize and take upon myself the obligations and responsibilities of the rank of Eagle Scout. On my honor, I will do my best to make my training an example, and make my rank and influence strongly count for better scouting and for better citizenship, in my troop, in my community, and in my contact with other people, regardless of race, color, or creed. To this, I pledge my sacred honor.
The journey to Eagle Scout has been a long one for junior Tucker Bond. On April 3, he will receive the honor that only about 6% of Boy Scouts earn. To earn the title, scouts have a major project they must complete. The project often varies based on the scout’s connections, and what they care about. Bond decided help part of the community who have been victims of violent crimes.
There is a small room in the Lee G. Alworth building in downtown Conroe that serves a specific group of Montgomery County residents. The Victim Assistance Waiting Room is for victims of violent crimes during the weeks and months and sometimes years it takes for their case in the justice system.
“I chose to refurbish the Victim Assistance Waiting Room at the District Attorney’s Office because I wanted to leave behind a legacy that would leave an impact on people’s lives far greater than I will ever know,” Bond said. “It is important to me because although I don’t personally know anyone that it has impacted, I know it will leave a lasting positive impact on those that use the room now, that it will help relieve some of the stress that the victims are going through and make their lives a little easier in those stressful moments.”
Many hours were put into doing the absolute most for the future victims who will enter the room.
“The project took six separate work days and over 250 man-hours to complete,” Bond said. “In order to get the furniture and decorations for the project, we created an Amazon gift list with everything we needed, and sent it out to everyone we knew through messages, email, Facebook and Twitter,” Bond said. “It had about 180 items on it and cost about $8,000 in total. All of it was donated and gifted by the community. For the supplies such as the paint and paintbrushes, my family bought all of them.”
As a volunteer, junior David Jackson saw first hand what the project could mean.
“I just thought it was an awesome thing to help complete,” Jackson said. “I am not a Boy Scout, but I wanted to help Tucker out. It could make a difference.”
Bond made sure to research what exactly a victim’s room should have with the goal of comfort and safety being built into the environment, following the Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) system.
“Before I redid the room, it looked like a lawyer’s office with threatening aspects in it such as a dark wall paint that looked very masculine,” he said. “By changing the color of the room from a dark tan color to a light gray and changing the lighting of the room, I was able to provide a calming environment. I made sure to include snacks and drinks like coffee and tea to calm down anyone who needed it.”
Tucker realized the room needed to be a comfort to the people who were experiencing a trying time.
“We wanted to make the room a more friendly place to be as we understood that anyone who is going into the room is about to either talk about what their abuser did to them to the prosecutor, or they are about testify against their abuser.”
Choosing such a large and major project, Bond sought assistance and information from those who understood exactly what a victim needed the best.
“I partnered with CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, to help design what the room should look like and what should be included in the room. I specifically partnered with Stacey McDowell from CASA and we worked together on assembling the room,” Bond said. “She was the biggest help to the project and we were only able to finish the room in a relatively short time because of her efficiency and background knowledge of TBRI. We also had the president of Project Linus agree to supply any child even those as old as 18 years old with a blanket to keep and take home.”
Following the success of Bond’s project, he leaves advice for future Eagle Scouts.
“It can be hard to find a project so make sure you spend plenty of time thinking of what you want to do,” he said. “Try to create a project that will leave a lasting impression on your community. “Make it something your future self would be proud of, and that your community would too be proud to have.”
