This summer Hamden Boy Scout Troop 608 Scout Ronan Murphy has been preparing for the big the leap from Spring Glen Elementary School to Hamden Middle School!

On Saturday July 26th, during the peak of summer Ronan spent 6 hours volunteering during the Spring Glen Garden Walk hosting a lemonade stand raising funds for Eli’s Garden of Healing. Throughout the day he met with over 60 neighbors who were touring gardens in peoples front and back yards to talk about the mission of EGH and raise money through his lemonade stand. As Ronan offered lemonade with various fun flavor combinations he built in meaningful conversations about the work being done at EGH to help people impacted by violence.

Ronan’s lemonade stand was set up in front of the home of the EGH co-founders Crystal and Kyle Zukauskas, who opened their backyard for neighbors to see a special memorial pond created by Kyle after Eli was killed. Visiting the memorial pond was a unique & intimate opportunity for neighbors to hear more about Elijah Gomez and Eli’s Garden of Healing. For Ronan it was the perfect opportunity to create a fundraiser in the front yard raising awareness around EGH’s mission and introducing visitors to our origin story before visiting the memorial pond.

We are so proud of the work Ronan did talking with neighbors and raising awareness around the need for violence prevention and healing in the community. Great job Ronan!!!