Scout Johnathan Dubiel poses with the cornhole boards made and donated by incarcerated adults to be auctioned off at his July 27 chicken dinner fundraiser at the Flushing Firehall.

LAFFERTY — Local teen Jonathan Dubiel is spending his summer vacation helping the community.

Dubiel is a member of Boy Scouts of America Troop 59 and is working on becoming an Eagle Scout. His Eagle Scout project is to rebuild the Lafferty Veterans Memorial.

“It will be to replace the original one that was destroyed around 60 years ago,” Dubiel said.

The original memorial was destroyed due to a resident hitting it with their vehicle.

The new memorial will be three granite slabs with the names of military veterans from Lafferty who served from World War I up until now. Requirements for the names to be listed on the memorial include: the individual must have lived in Lafferty for at least five years and must have been honorably discharged. Dubiel will also be leaving additional spaces available on the far right plaque for future veterans to be added to the memorial once they have been honorably discharged.

Dubiel is currently a Boy Scout, but after this project the Eagle Scout Board of Review will determine if he is able to receive his Eagle Scout Badge.

He will be hosting a chicken dinner fundraiser from noon until 4 p.m. July 27 at the Flushing Fire Hall. The Flushing Fire Department is donating the use of its hall to Dubiel to help raise money to meet his goal of $38,000 to fund the project. So far Dubiel has raised over $28,000. If completed, he plans to unveil the new memorial on Veterans Day.

Dubiel’s uncle, grandmother and both grandfathers are veterans, so he said this project is very close to his heart.

The Lafferty Moose Lodge will be cooking the dinners that will be served July 27.

This will be the second chicken dinner fundraiser that Dubiel has held; the first occurred last year.

“The support from this small community has been amazing,” Dubiel’s mother, Shasta Dubiel, said.

The fundraiser will have an auction featuring a cornhole set made by the Belmont Incarcerated Veterans Organization at the Belmont County Correctional Institute, located along Ohio 331 west of St. Clairsville.

The cornhole boards were purchased and donated by the president and vice president of the Belmont Incarcerated Veterans Organization and airbrushed by a separate incarcerated adult who has been doing art projects for various charities, organizations and businesses in Belmont County for years.

The Belmont Incarcerated Veterans Organization was founded in 2012 and the president and vice president have been involved in the organization since its inception.

“Over the years we’ve done a lot of community service and fundraisers to give back to the community and do things for the incarcerated population as well as outside,” the Belmont Incarcerated Veterans Organization president said. “As soon as we get word of things like this we’re more than happy to help out.”

Prison officials asked that the names of incarcerated individuals involved in the effort not be published.

“Their motto is veterans helping veterans,” Belmont Correctional Institute Case Manager Jake Lucas said.

“I’m not a veteran, but he and I have been working together for 14 years and raising money for every kind of organization,” the incarcerated individual who airbrushed the cornhole boards said. “This is what I do every day, sometimes 12 hours a day, and veterans is my main thing. I do a lot of other projects, but veterans is the most important to me.”