Freedom Festival partners with BSA & local businesses to improve Camp Williams facilities
September 8, 2010 | No Comments
Riverton, Utah – September 8, 2010 – Local business owners, elected officials and military personnel and their families will join representatives from America’s Freedom Festival at Provo and the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) today at Camp Williams to celebrate the completion of the Camp Williams Service Project, an extensive ten-week renovation at the National Guard site involving over 100 Eagle Scouts and volunteers from Utah and Salt Lake counties.
In addition to major renovations at the Camp Williams Soldier Center, a recreation room for military personnel, Eagle Scouts and other volunteers built a new play area for children and families visiting the site, many of whom have parents and spouses serving in harm’s way. Hundreds of hours and thousand of dollars in labor and materials were contributed to the service project by many generous individuals and business owners. America’s Freedom Festival sponsored the undertaking.
The idea to organize a service project at Camp Williams began in April when the producers of the 2010 Stadium of Fire joined representatives from the local Utah National Parks Council of the BSA to look for a significant service opportunity in which Eagle Scouts could participate. After visiting Camp Williams, they found multiple prospects for service.
“This is not an easy time for America’s servicemen and women, and we wanted to find a way to make a positive impact both in their lives and in the lives of their families,” said Carl Bacon, Senior Executive Producer of Stadium of Fire. “The Boy Scouts recently participated at Stadium of Fire in history’s largest Eagle Court of Honor to commemorate the organization’s 100th year anniversary, and we thought this service project would be a wonderful way to involve many of those same Eagle Scouts before and after the July show.”
As military personnel deploy, Camp Williams provides opportunities for their children to visit and participate in a variety of youth camps and activities. One feature that was lacking before the service project was an outdoor play area where children could go between sessions. Beginning in June, Boy Scouts and volunteers began work to develop a fenced playground specifically for these children. After removing the existing grass and putting on a finish grade, the project also included digging and installing an in-ground trampoline, installing and painting a tower complete with rock climbing components and room for a future slide, installing two sets of horseshoe pits, laying sod and playground chips and installing a fence.
Boy Scouts and volunteers also completed an “extreme makeover” of the Camp Williams Soldier Center. They painted the walls, installed a new television and sound system, obtained new furniture and collected movies, games and books to supplement the current library.
“I’m not sure who will benefit more from this service project—the soldiers and their families or the young Boy Scouts that sacrificed their time and labor to do something so memorable and special,” said Maughn Pearson, Activities and Civic Service Chairman of the BSA’s Utah National Parks Council. “It was a unique opportunity for them to express their appreciation to those involved in the military.”
Camp W. G. Williams is a National Guard Training Site operated by the Utah Army National Guard. It consists of 28,000 acres of training areas and has a billeting capacity of 2,800 troops. Camp Williams is one of the finest training sites in the country, offering a wide variety of training opportunities to soldiers. In addition to Utah Guard units, many regular Army, Army Reserve, Marine Corps and Air Force units utilize these facilities. A large number of local National Guardsmen deploy out of Camp Williams.
