Michael Flesher earns Eagle Scout badge, scholarship for creating bird sancutary at pediatric cancer retreat.

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Standing at the edge of a driveway, Michael Flesher finally understood the magnitude of the task ahead.

Dozens of hours of labor had brought the recent Nazareth Area High School graduate to this point: a pile of birdhouses, bat houses and birdseed heaped before him, waiting to transform a backyard into a bird sanctuary.

Looking back, his father said there were plenty of times the now-18-year-old worried the job was too much to finish.


But he only had to look into the faces of the children staying at the Angel Field Family Center, a retreat in Nazareth for pediatric cancer patients and their families, to see the good his hard work would bring.

He buckled down and pushed through. Using donated materials, Flesher worked from August 2008 to May 2009, sometimes alone, sometimes with family and friends, to get the job done.

Now his charitable effort has put two feathers in his cap. It earned him an Eagle Scout badge — and earlier this month a $1,000 scholarship from Kohl's Kids Who Care program. The department store also put him in the running with 200 other young people for a chance to win a $10,000 scholarship.

But the soon-to-be Penn State freshman says the real reward was bringing more beauty to the bed-and-breakfast that provides a respite for young cancer patients.

"We visited, and I was impressed," he said. "The property is just huge — we had to clear a ton of tall grass."

A lifelong Scout, Flesher knew he wanted his Eagle Scout project to focus on pediatric cancer.

Flesher knew the toll treating cancer takes on kids. For years, his now-7-year-old cousin has made the trip every Tuesday from New Jersey to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for chemotherapy.

He first proposed a video drive, collecting movies for the kids at CHOP to watch during their treatments. Ultimately, the idea fell through.

Enter Northampton native Doug Sheriff and Angel34, a non-profit advocacy and financial assistance organization founded by his daughter Nicole, who fought cancer for two years until she died in 2004 at age 15. One of Nicole's happiest times during treatment was a family vacation to Cancun, where she bounded around with an energy her parents hadn't seen in a long time.

So the Sheriffs founded Angel Field, a rambling house on a four-acre estate, complete with a pool and super-size deck. Flesher read about the retreat in a local newspaper and knew what he wanted to do.

Sheriff had planned to convert a portion of the property into a bird sanctuary for some time as a way of offering young visitors a close-up view of nature. He just never had the manpower before Flesher.

"He was gung-ho from the very beginning," Sheriff said. "It also touches a population of kids that not many people are aware of. It's a very touchy subject. It's something that when Mike approached us, he was very sincere about."

Starting in August 2008, Flesher's team of friends and family put in 500 hours planting, landscaping and installing bird houses and feeders, with the Scout sweating out more than 100 hours himself. In the heat of summer, when temperatures routinely hit the 90s and often went higher, he'd sometimes cool off in the pool behind the property.

All plants were donated, many trucked up to the site by his mother.

By May 2009, Flesher could look out from the house and see his handiwork: a carefully cultivated acre, dotted with birdhouses and flitting avians. And he still got to do his video drive, collecting more than 800 movies to stock the library at Angel Field.

Flesher was nominated by his mother for the Kohl's prize. Winning it would be nice, he said. But as father Carl puts it, it's all gravy.

"For him to get the Kohl's scholarship and be up there getting Eagle Scout, that was a very rewarding moment," the elder Flesher said. "One of the proudest moments of my life."

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-nazareth-kohls-prize-20100728,0,6866480.story

For more on Angel 34: http://www.angel34.org/