Newtown resident Gavin Bazuro, who is also a member of Troop 770, excitedly presented his Eagle Scout Project at Newtown Animal Shelter on the chilly morning of Saturday, December 7. He and his family rolled out the new donation box and four insulated cat shelters he built over several months to donate to the shelter.

It may have taken the Bazuros several back-and-forth trips to their car to set everything down, but Newtown’s Municipal Animal Control Officer Carolee Mason couldn’t help but smile the entire time.

Replacing Newtown Animal Shelter’s old donation box is the new, bright red donation box that Gavin built. Compared to the old one, the new donation box is bigger and has shelving on the inside, which means that it can fit even more donations.

It can even roll through the wheels on the bottom, making it more movable for when Newtown Animal Shelter staff might need to move it.

Meanwhile, the four cat shelters were designed to house the feral cats the shelter finds around Newtown. It’s normally very difficult to keep feral cats warm, fed, and safe throughout the winter, according to Gavin.

This meant that creating small shelters that could protect the cats from the elements was very important to him. Each shelter has a divider to block out the wind, and is insulated to help the cats stay decently warm despite the cold winter weather.

When Mason looked over everything Gavin made to support the shelter, she mentioned how she “couldn’t get over how beautiful they were.”

“They’re absolutely beautiful. I just appreciate it so much. We get a lot of donations, but the quality of work is incredible,” Mason said. “I really can’t thank you enough for this, Gavin, and the cats are going to thank you, too.”

While Gavin started the project earlier this summer, his ties to Newtown Animal Shelter go back to when he was a child.

Gavin would frequently donate cat food to Newtown Animal Shelter growing up. Instead of asking for gifts for his birthday, Gavin would often ask for cat food, cat toys, or dog food to give to the shelter.

The Bazuros have also always been a very animal-based family. Gavin said that they have two cats, two dogs, and six chickens, and even used to have bunnies and guinea pigs.

Everything made Newtown Animal Shelter a natural choice when it came time for Gavin to pick something for his Eagle Scout Project.

“I’ve really grown up with animals. We’ve always been an animal-based family, and I would always donate to [Newtown Animal Shelter], so I really wanted to do something else for them now,” Gavin explained.

It might sound relatively straightforward to build and donate something, but the Eagle Scout Project requires a lot of foresight and time.

Gavin’s father, Robert Bazuro, has seen his fair share of Eagle Scout Projects as an Assistant Scoutmaster and as a Charter Representative — a liaison between the troop and a sponsoring organization — for St Rose of Lima Church.

Eagle Scout Projects are the culmination of a Scout’s work, and need to fulfill a lot of requirements. All projects need to be something that they can donate or provide to their community, such as a bridge or a blood drive. They also need to secure donations and fundraising for it, and usually lead other Scouts throughout the project completion process.

The project itself gives Scouts a chance to demonstrate leadership while pursuing something that can leave a tangible, long-lasting impact to their community. It is only one necessary step in achieving the highest rank a Scout can receive: Eagle Scout.

However, Scouts also need to accumulate at least 21 merit badges before they can earn the Eagle rank; merit badges symbolize proficiency in areas of study or skills such as swimming, personal finance, and more.

Even before officially starting his project and working towards becoming an Eagle, Gavin needed to submit his project to be approved by the Connecticut Yankee Council. The council runs this area of the state and determines whether or not the project concept is worthy of being an Eagle Scout Project or not.

The first thing that Gavin did was outline and design his project. He and his dad looked through cat shelter building videos online, and created the blueprints and cost estimates for the materials and supplies.

As for the donation box, Gavin said that he and his dad took inspiration from a previous Eagle Scout project they found online that was made by a Scout who volunteered for weekends at pet adoption places.

Once his Eagle Scout Project got approved in the middle of summer, Gavin and Robert went all-in to start the project.

After coming up with the budget, Gavin and his dad put up a GoFundMe and raised $1,500 for all the materials needed to make the four cat shelters and the donation box. Gavin said that they also received some money from friends and family in support of his project.

They later went to large retailers such as Lowe’s and Home Depot, as well as other businesses such as Ring’s End, Fine Floors By Mathison, and Mark Edwards Roofing & Siding to pick up material like paint, asphalt, insulation, and more. According to Gavin, they also got a massive amount of discounts when buying stuff for the project, which made everything a lot cheaper.

The actual construction process started in September and took around three months to complete, totaling 34 hours of work. When it came to building everything Gavin had help from Robert and one of his fellow Scouts.

Having the support of so many people, from fellow Scouts to local businesses, Gavin said felt great. To him, the project was equal parts a labor of love and a learning experience.

“It’s been great, I learned a lot about things like bureaucratic paperwork and construction. Until now, I’ve done a couple things with my dad, but this is probably the first time I’ve done something massive like this,” Gavin explained.

Even after donating everything to Newtown Animal Shelter, Gavin still has some work left to do for his Eagle Scout Project.

Anyone who wants to do the project has to complete an Eagle Scout Workbook, which is split across several parts and has to be filled out while they work on the project.

The Project Proposal itself is only the first part of the workbook, and required Gavin to list all the necessary contact information, how the project is helpful to the beneficiary and why it’s needed, different materials, how much he estimates the project will cost, and much more.

Gavin now still has to fill out the Self-Reflection portion of the workbook, and look back on the project he excitedly worked on for around half a year. After finishing the workbook, Gavin will submit his Eagle Scout Project

As for Mason, she said that she “couldn’t be happier” with everything Gavin made. She added, “I’m just so thrilled that someone donated this to us.

“It’s not just something that was thrown together, it was something that you can clearly tell took a lot of time, hard work, and passion to make. We appreciate it so, so much.”

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.