Aaron Eillerts Preparations are underway to honor the Iowa Boy Scout who was among four boys killed when a tornado hit a western Iowa scout camp last June.

On February 24th, the first-ever Aaron Eilerts Day of Service and Giving will be held across Iowa to remember Eilerts and his dedication to his hometown of Eagle Grove.

Beth Stephas, a guidance counselor at Robert Blue Middle School in Eagle Grove, says Governor Culver created this day.

Culver declared this would be a statewide day dedicated to service projects to carry on the spirit in which Aaron lived his life. February 24th was Eilert’s birthday and he would’ve turned 15 this year. Stephas says several activities are planned in the community, including one that focuses on one of Aaron’s passions, sewing personalized pillowcases for people in hospitals, especially children.

They have students who will be making pillowcases on that day as they’ve been collecting fabric and getting ready to teach a number of middle schoolers some basic sewing skills. Aaron also enjoyed creating table decorations and folded holiday napkins for the local senior citizens center, so the folks there would have a little surprise on various occasions. Stephas says they’re picking up the torch on that project, too.

“We have purchased a number of kits and will be having students create holiday-themed decorations and napkins for the whole series of holidays throughout the year and donating those to the senior citizen’s center in Aaron’s honor,” she explains. Another project is to create fleece blankets to be donated to the Humane Society in Eagle Grove.

Stephas says the word is spreading across Iowa to remember the dedication showed by Eilerts as a community volunteer. For more information, call the Robert Blue Middle School in Eagle Grove at 515-448-4767 or log on to the school’s website  .