To become an Eagle Scout, a scout has to perform a community service project. Most projects cost less than a thousand dollars and might involve a bit of elbow grease.
Garrett Ard of Orange Beach, Alabama, raised $25,000, bought an old 50-foot steel shrimper and had it sunk as an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico to honor his late grandfather. Captain Gloyice Ard, was a well-known Orange Beach charter fisherman who died in 2009.
Ard started raising the money for the memorial reef when he was a freshman in high school. The City of Orange Beach, the Gulf Coast Reef Foundation and a family friend and commercial fisherman contributed to the project.
On May 7, 2020, Ard watched as the Southern Heritage quickly slipped the waves, 13 miles offshore into 90 feet of water.
You can watch the sinking of the shrimper at Fox 10 TV.
