Thai-American Friendship Flagpole at Ob Khan National Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Hello! This is Ben Overholt from BSA Troop 731 here in Chiang Mai Thailand. I am almost 16 years old and currently a Life Scout and working on my final Eagle Scout project. This project will involve over 100 hours of hard labor along with extra hours of planning and fund raising. Our Troop and many Thai schools and colleges use this awesome campsite on the Khan River at the gorge (Ob in Thai) about an hour out of Chiang Mai. Flags are a big part of Thai culture and we use them a lot in our scout troop as well. Therefore in cooperation with park officials and Troop 731 Chiang Mai I am working on building a Thai-American Friendship Flagpole and staging area at Ob th Khan National Park in honor of the King of Thailands 85 birthday. The planning is done and we are about to launch this project in the month of January. The project will be a 3 meter by 6 meter platform made out of Laterite bricks locally mined and cut with three flagpoles along with two marble engraved plaques. My drawing is below. We will be welding a base and cementing a footer about one meter deep in the soil and then the platform on top right near the river at this fabulous gorge. We use this camp site a lot as do many other groups so the Park Officials are happy to have this built for them as a service to Thailand and our community. All of our materials will have to be hand carried across a bamboo walking bridge about 250 yards to the building site. Want to help lug heavy laterite bricks, steel, sand, gravel and cement? I could use your help with fund raising. I am in need of nearly $900 ((27,000 Baht) to complete this project. I am asking my friends, family and people I know who would be interested in supporting my Eagle project. If you are in Thailand we can hand you a written receipt for any cash donation and if you are in the USA you may send a check to Ben Overholt care of Sylvia Hernley 125 N Locust St. Apt 105 Elizabethtown, PA 17022. I will send you a receipt and a final report of how the donations were used. Thank you very much for your consideration of my project. Thanks again! Ben Overholt

Rough Layout Drawing of the flag poles Made by Google Sketchup