If you’ve been on the Santa Fe Trail in the last few weeks, you’ve probably noticed a new rest area at Beacon. The rest area is located under a large shade tree and has a trash can, bench, and a water fountain. We’d like to introduce you to the person responsible for that rest area, Abe Randle. Abe is an impressive young man who has made a positive impact on his community by putting forth his time, effort, and ingenuity. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for Abe.
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your involvement with the Boy Scouts.
A. Hi, my name is Abe Randle. I’m 14 and I’ve been part of my Boy Scout troop, Troop 64, since 2016. I like to play music, play video games, and hangout with my friends in my free time. Next year I’m going into 9th grade at Booker T Washington High School.
Q: How did you come up with the idea to put a rest stop on the Santa Fe Trail?
A. When I first started coming up with ideas for my project, I wanted to do something I could see effect my community directly, and something that was useful. I talked to my dad if there was anything I could do on the Santa Fe trail, seeing as he’s the treasurer for the Friends of Santa Fe Trail Board. He recommended I install a water fountain with a water bottle filler, seeing as there were none on the trail. Over time I decided to add a bench and a trash can and make a complete rest stop.
Q: What was the most challenging obstacle in the process of getting the rest stop installed?
A. To put it simply, getting enough money to do the project. The total cost of the project was 8k dollars. Luckily though, the board of The Friend of Santa Fe Trail said they would match me on the amount of money I raised. That was helpful, but still I needed to raise more money so the project would be fully funded. After about a month of fund raising, a got all of the money from family and some of my father’s friends. Also, the City of Dallas contributed a significant part of the cost of the project.
Q: How much time did you spend on the project?
A. It took be about 4 months for beginning to end and took me more or less 40 total hours.
Q: Who/What inspires you to do things to improve your community?
A. To make it short, my sister. She inspires me to do things like this because when I do them, I feel like I’m doing them for her. Whenever I finish something like this, she talks to me about it and tells all her friends what I’ve done. When she’s proud of me, I feel great about myself. My goal when I do these projects is to make her happy. She inspires me to do the best I can every day.
