Eagle Scout installs medicine collection dropbox at Express Pharmacy in Lake Ridge

My name is Parth Patel, a resident of Dumfries, Virginia. I am a rising senior at Forest Park High School and a Boy Scout of America, Troop 501, Woodbridge, Virginia.

Goal:

As you may have heard that the highest rank in Boy Scout of America is the Eagle Award which includes a community service project. I am proud to inform you that I am currently pursuing to achieve this rank. The purpose of any Eagle Scout project is to help the local community in a positive way, gives an opportunity to Boys Scout to obtain a lifetime experience and develop leadership skills.

Project Details:

My project will include to purchase a medicine collection dropbox and to install it at Express Pharmacy, [Lake Ridge], Virginia. I will also be organizing a one-day event when the people of our community can come and dispose of their unwanted medication in a safe and secure disposal box located at this location. Through this event, my other scout members can educate our community the right way to dispose of their unwanted/expired medications.

Purpose of this project:

Many citizens of our community believe flushing their medication down the toilet is a safe and effortless way of disposing of but in reality, it can end up polluting our water, impacting aquatic species and contaminating our food and water supplies.

Some medications are thrown in the household trash which does not ensure that curious kids can’t get to them. There’s an epidemic of accidental poisonings from medicines from in our homes – and children are the most common victims. Human medications are the leading cause of pet poisonings, most often from trash-related toxic exposures. It is also unwise to keep those expired medications at home especially around children at home because they might find it and see those medications as candy and might try to eat it.

Project requirement:
As part of completing my eagle scout project, one of the requirements is to get the signature from a non-profit organization. I would like to request local police department to sign as beneficiary. There will be NO COST to the police department for this project.