Boy Scout honors his great grandfather

BLOOMFIELD, NJ – A Bloomfield Boy Scout who has constructed raised garden beds for disabled seniors says he hopes to receive the rank of Eagle Scout for an effort he undertook in the memory of his great-grandfather, a Polish Army corporal who served in World War II.

The garden beds, ADA-compliant so that the soil is accessible to people in wheelchairs, will be installed next week at the NJ Veterans Memorial Home in Paramus.
“I chose this location because my main focus was to help benefit the veteran community.” Alex Pola, 15, said at his Ackerman Street home.

A sophomore at St. Peter’s Prep, in Jersey City, Alex, in his search for an appropriate site, said other veteran homes were off-limits because of Covid restrictions. But he had also contacted the Paramus facility to introduce himself.

“I sent an email asking what they might like,” he said. “I gave them the idea for the raised garden beds. They liked it and set up a meeting time.”

The garden beds are expected to be used by disabled seniors and those with cognitive difficulties living in two wings of the facility. Alex visited the facility in January and got the go-ahead.
After that, his plans went through an appraisal process by the Boy Scouts and were approved. The facility where Alex’s project will be installed opened in 1986 and is situated on 23 acres. It can accommodate 336 veterans, according to its website.

“I always wanted to be involved with the veteran community mainly because my great-grandfather was involved in WWII,” he said. “With me wanting to join the Naval Academy, and my great-grandfather’s service, I wanted to give something back to the veterans.”

In the dining room of his home, with one end of the table covered with family photographs and military medals, Alex and his mother, Roseanna Mazurkiewicz, with occasional comments from Alex’s grandmother, Christine Mazurkiewicz, provided a family history.

Alex’s great-grandfather, Sylwester Glowacz, was born in 1921, in Poznan, Poland. He joined the Army and at the war’s end, did not return to Poland because it was controlled by the Communists. He emigrated to England where he met, in Coventry, his future wife, Leokadia Laczna, who was born and raised in Brest, Poland, now Brest, Belarus.

They married in 1950. Both worked for the General Electric Co., in England: He was a draftsman; she wired electrical products. Glowacz, who was a Boy Scout leader in England, never came to America nor did his wife, but their daughter, Christine, did. She also lives in Bloomfield. Glowacz died in 2005.

Alex has been involved in Scouting since he was an eight-years-old Cub Scout. He became a Boy Scout at 11. He is currently a Life Scout, in Troop 22, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Bloomfield.

“For me, my Eagle Scout project is in my great-grandfather’s memory,” Alex said. “It’s important for me to commemorate his service and the people who served, especially with my great-grandfather’s struggles. Even though he fought in the war, he couldn’t go back to his own country.”

Another Eagle Scout project he considered was transportable flower beds to accompany the “Moving Wall,” a scaled-down replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in Washington, D.C. There are two of these models which travel the country under the banner, “The Wall That Heals.” But logistically, Alex soon realized this idea was untenable considering the space flower beds occupy and the care plants require. Nonetheless, six 4-foot-square wooden frames, with detachable 3-foot legs and 8-inch-deep containers for beds, were outside in the family garage waiting for their April 11 load-in to Paramus.

Many people had a hand in the Scout’s dream.
The cost for the beds was $770. An online registry for donations, which mostly came from family and friends, was linked to Home Depot. This resulted in much of the funding for wood. A Paramus nursery is on board to donate the soil. Construction was handled by 11 Scouts and five adults who operated the power tools. The work took two, six-hour days. All the time, Alex’s mother was in the kitchen cooking for them. A family friend, with a truck, will transport the frames.

“With an Eagle Scout project, you shouldn’t take the easy way out,” Alex said. “And with my Troup 22, the projects are huge; they’re challenging.”