On Friday evening, May 5, there was an Eagle Scout Court of Honor held at the Bedford Presbyterian Church.

The ceremony was held at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary of the Bedford Presbyterian Church to present the award of Eagle Scout to Ryan Dinndorf. Ryan is Eagle number 110 in Troop 414.

About 50 people came out for the event, through the cold rain and wind.

The Eagle Scout Oath was administered by Scoutmaster Ronald Carvalho. The presentation of the Eagle Badge and Charge to the Eagle was done by Mr. Ed Delamater.

Several of Ryan’s friends and family recalled funny moments during his trail to Eagle.

After the ceremony there was a reception in Fellowship Hall.

Eagle Scout

Leadership Service Project

By Ryan Dinndorf

My Eagle Scout project was to build clothing donation containers for St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Bedford, NH. I also organized and conducted a clothing drive to fill my newly built containers. After gaining the district’s approval (as well as Msgr. Quinn’s), the first step was to raise the funds to build the project. With the help of several scouts and many food donations, I held a bake sale at St. Elizabeth’s and was able to raise more than enough money to buy my materials and begin construction.

Construction of the storage bins took a long time; my parents were unable to park in our garage for nearly a year. I first built a prototype bin, and I went through a few redesigns of this bin to make sure that the design would be durable and useful before building the delivered bins.

Once the bins were built, I spent more time trying to make their appearance appropriate for the church. To achieve the desired finish, I used a maple hardwood veneer and treated it with a reddish-brown stain that matched other furniture in the church. I had a lot of help from other scouts during the finishing process – my troop mates helped stain, sand, and polyurethane.

Once the storage units were ready for delivery, I rented a U-Haul trailer and delivered them to St. Elizabeth Seton, where they are now in constant use. I spent over 100 hours measuring, cutting, staining, and sanding on this project, and I received another 40 hours of help from scouts.

I would like to thank the church and Monsignor Quinn for allowing me to do my Eagle project for them as well as my family, friends, Troop 414, and in particular my dad for helping me through this building project.

Eagle Scout Biography

Born to Ken and Linda Dinndorf in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I am the oldest of four children. My three younger sisters are Kaitlyn, Sierra and Jenna. My family moved to Bedford from Colorado Springs in 2005.

When I was in first grade, I joined Pack 5 and my love for the outdoors as well as my friends ensured that I would stay active in scouting through high school. After receiving the Arrow of Light in 2011, I chose to join Bedford Troop 414 along with many of my friends.

Once in Troop 414, I quickly acclimated to and embraced the “boy led” ideal that was prominent in how the troop was run. I attended nearly all the monthly campouts, whether it was canoeing, backpacking, or Klondike. The memories of chopping wood, cooking over campfires, setting up tents in the rain, and exploding cans of beans are still with me today, as are many of the friends I made.

Through this continuous scouting journey, my goal was to become an Eagle Scout. In addition to performing a service project, becoming an Eagle Scout required time as a leader, sustained involvement in the troop, demonstrating multiple skills, and earning many badges – most of this was fun. Unfortunately, it also involved PAPERWORK – which wasn’t always so much fun.

Finally, in January 2017, everything was finished and I became an Eagle Scout. I could not have done it alone, and would like to thank the leaders and scouts of Troop 414 as well as my family for supporting me on the path to Eagle.

– Submitted by Ralph Dieter, for Troop 414