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Masontown resident earns badge after repairing church festival area

By Toni Cekada for The 3 min read
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Michael Oppman of Masontown was honored with the rank of Eagle Scout after completing a project at St. Francis of Assisi church.

Father William G. Berkey said the project was not only of benefit to the Masontown church but the entire community.

“I think it really pleases the neighbors,” said Berkey with a chuckle. “It was also the first time we held the festival here in a few years, and it was very refreshing.”

Oppman dedicated 328 hours to restoring, repairing and painting the St. Francis of Assisi festival area with the help of 29 fellow troops and parishioners.

The project kicked off by sanding and power washing the soffit and fascia of the L-shaped brick building that lies around the perimeter of the parking lot behind the church. The building is used for food and games during the parish’s annual church festival. The festival welcomes the community, offering food and games as a fundraiser for the parish.

“We also spent hours removing hundreds of staples that were used to hang festival signs over the years,” Oppman said, adding that a rotten board also had to be replaced.

Before Oppman could begin to actually prime and paint though, the backside of the building needed tended to first.

“We had to remove the vines growing up the backside of the building,” he said. “We hauled them off to the German Township Compost facility.

Before painting, Oppman said it took 18 gallons of primer to coat the entire building. Next, a dark green paint was used to coat the building, a light green was used to the paint the boards that cover the game and food area windows, and a bright yellow was used to paint the poles. It took another 18 gallons of paint to finish the project.

“He did a great job,” Berkey said. “It’s certainly well appreciated. We’ve received lots of compliments from the community.”

The green and yellow color scheme was inspired by his high school colors. Oppman graduated from Geibel Catholic High School this past year, where he was an honor student.

Oppman said he purchased all necessary supplies at Sherwin Williams, where he received a generous discount. Supplies were purchased through parishioners’ donations and were also funded by the church.

Oppman’s father, Mike Oppman, said the last time the building had been tended to was about 15 years ago.

A member of Troop 643, Oppman has been involved with the scouts for the past seven years, earning 40 merit badges. In high school he participated, and lettered in, golf, hockey, football, baseball and basketball. He was also a member of the stage crew for the musical Cats and performed in the musical productions Les Miserable, 42nd Street and Legally Blonde.

The established scout also served as an altar server at both Geibel and Saint Francis of Assisi. He is currently a freshman at Pennsylvania State University in Altoona where he is studying statistics.

Oppman is a son of Mike and Estella Oppman and the grandson of Ellen Duffy of Masontown and Mary Vozar of Connellsville. Oppman’s older brother, Nicholas, is also an Eagle Scout and is attending Pennsylvania State University, main campus.

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