ORANGE PARK – The Quigley House campus outdoors recently got a facelift by a 13-year-old soon-to-be Eagle Scout and 20 other volunteers.

William Laird, 13, is on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout and part of that process includes a community project. Having some familiarity with Clay County’s Quigley House nonprofit by way of other volunteer projects, Laird called up the charity and asked how he could help. He soon went above and beyond the Quigley’s House’s expectations.

“He asked to take a tour of the campus for his project and I showed him four different outdoor areas of our shelter campus, expecting him to pick one and work on that,” Quigley House director of domestic violence services Stacey O’Brien said. “All of a sudden, his team was tackling all four things.”

O’Brien said Laird and his team of volunteers spruced up a basketball area, donated new balls and a bin to store them, cleaned and fixed two children’s playground sets and tended to a garden area, among other things.

“I wanted to help out the people with the Quigley House,” Laird said. “I thought I could do something really special and it was a very good cause because I’d be helping people who are victims of domestic violence.”

Laird says Quigley House performs multiple valuable services for the community and that what they do for the people that need them is wonderful. He said he hopes his project inspires others to work with Quigley’s to help them out in any way possible.

“It’s really uplifting that they did this for us because not many nonprofits actually provide their services here in Clay County and we’re one of the few that do,” O’Brien said. “For them to have selected us to help, it means so much.”

O’Brien said Laird’s help couldn’t have come at a better time as the shelter is currently inundated with families that need help making it through the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s been rough and it’s nice to be supported by our community, she said.

Laird’s mother, Michelle Laird, said she’s extremely proud of her son.

“This is a really big project and I’m proud of him and all of the volunteers who participated,” she said. “They went above and beyond the scope of what was asked and put in a good day’s work to truly make a big difference in a big way.”

She said Laird likely chose a project so focused on the outdoors because of his love of the outdoors and things like sports. When he saw the condition of the facility’s outdoor areas, he immediately wanted to help spruce it up and make it a more enjoyable space for everyone there, she said.

“I think he succeeded,” the mother said.

After about seven hours of work, Laird and his team of volunteers had pressure-washed a playground, two separate outdoor seating areas and a pergola, and they also built and stained a picnic table, sanded and stained another, and pressure washed two outdoor tables and the fencing surrounding the area.

They also refurbished an outdoor basketball court, removed 30 bags of leaves, pulled weeds, laid 40 bags of pine bark nuggets, refurbished a wooden outdoor playground set to include new sections for play and created a new soccer goal complete with new soccer balls.

“They truly did an amazing job and everyone here is so happy about it,” O’Brien said. “The Quigley House is extremely grateful for Laird and his team.”