Hometown News: Boy Scout Saves Cemetery

Nichols School sophomore and Boy Scout Joshua Finkelstein will be presented the Jewish Federation's Special Recognition Award. The Troop 156 member initiated a cleanup of Beth Jacob Cemetery for his Eagle Scout Leadership Project. His father, scoutmaster Dr. Mark Finkelstein worked on the cleanup as well. Josh accepted the award at the Federation's annual meeting in the Jewish Community Center's Benderson Building in Getzville last night. The cleanup efforts began last summer and brought out dozens of volunteers from congregants of neighboring churches and temples, as well as Federation board members, who trimmed trees, removed overgrown brush, and picked up garbage. The group also managed to raise and repair several broken headstones, and will finish the project in the near future by installing a new fence. Joshua will complete the Eagle Scout project by taking photos, documenting each gravestone, and transcribing those in Hebrew for the cemetery's records.