Eagle Scouts Project Celebrated at HMC

Courtesy photo.

The Garden of Eternal Peace at Hilo Medical Center was recently celebrated by HMC staff and long term care residents. The project was a joint Eagle Scout Project between Phillip Palmore and Aaron Graft.

Together, the pair completed the garden on the hospital’s grounds, which included building a walkway and pergola.

“Originally, I thought this project was going to last one week during spring break last year,” said Palmore during his message to donors and supporters of the project. “I also thought that I would only need 16 tons of gravel and it turned out to be over 120 tons. I thought all I had to do was work hard, but a year later, I learned it doesn’t matter how you got there, it matters that you got there at all.”

The project was the largest to ever come out of Troop 42, according to Unit Commissioner Harold Crawford.

“I’m very proud of him,” Crawford said. “Phillip had to go through so many levels of approval with the Planning Commission and the ADA, but he saw it through and learned many lessons along the way.”

Graft thanked his mother, Lisa, who was shedding prideful tears while videotaping her son’s speech.

“They [Aaron and Phillip] have known each other since they were three – we live across the street,” Graft’s mother recounted. “We put Aaron in Boy Scouts so he could have life skills and be among his peers. Without the Palmores, none of this would have happened.”

Prior to the blessing of the project, Kahu Kimo Awai noted that it was not coincidence that brought the boys together.

“This vision for a garden here was a long time coming,” said Pam Bruce, Nurse Manager for HMC’s Extended Care Facility. “So many other people had a vision for this area, but these boys made it happen!”

In February, Boy Scout Barret Baca, a senior at Hilo High School and member of Troop 78 Pukahi District, completed his Eagle Scout Project to beautify the first floor atrium at Hilo Medical Center. Scout Masters Arthur Sampaga, also the Chief Nursing Officer at the hospital, and the late Jon Hiyashi, oversaw the project.