CODA facilities get spruced up thanks to an aspiring Eagle Scout

Braden Putich of Bluffton stays pretty busy these days. He runs cross country, wrestles, is the captain of the Bluffton High School soccer team, is active in his church and just started his first job.

But that's not all. The 15-year-old also is working on becoming an Eagle Scout -- an exclusive honor and the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve. For one of the last steps before earning that status, he must show leadership skills by planning, coordinating, leading and executing a service project.

For his project, Braden decided to help spruce up the headquarters of Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse, a nonprofit organization based in Beaufort that offers aid to abuse victims and their children. As part of the project, he was required to write up a proposal and submit it to his Boy Scout leaders and to CODA for approval. Then he had to round up a team of workers and make sure they had everything they needed to get the job done.

Braden found about 25-30 workers to help him complete the project. Most of his helpers were fellow scouts, but he also recruited some of his Gap Outlet co-workers. He said Gap pledges to donate money to an organization if four or more of their employees volunteer a certain amount of hours to a service project for that organization. In this case, Gap donated $250 to CODA.

"We're just very impressed with (Braden) and the group of volunteers and what they were able to accomplish," CODA Director Kristin Dubrowski said.

She said Braden and his team of helpers originally were just going to paint but ended up doing so much more.

"They totally went above and beyond and just really impressed all of us. It was just really nice to have a youth who's interested in making a difference like this. ... It's really had a positive impact."

On April 25, Braden and his crew did some painting, powerwashing and yard work at the CODA offices. On May 8, they went back and painted some more.

Although he could not be there to help finish the project, Braden arranged for one of his helpers to go back to CODA on May 22 to paint a mural of the organization's logo on a wall.

But Braden, who joined the Cub Scouts at age 8 and moved up to Boy Scouts at age 12, can't call himself an Eagle Scout quite yet. He still has to pass a board of review, where he sits down in front of a committee of scout leaders and answers questions. From there, the leaders will decide if he has what it takes to be an Eagle Scout. Braden's father, Michael Putich, said the review probably will happen sometime this summer.

So, why is Braden so motivated to become an Eagle Scout?

"Being an Eagle Scout means to me that I would've achieved Scouting's toughest challenges of the advancement program," Braden said.