Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Thanks to the efforts a remarkable young man, Passer Community Center in Springfield Township, Bucks County, will once again be able to display the Stars and Stripes.

The historic rural schoolhouse was without a flag because it lacked a flagpole. That was until Williams Township teenager Alex Oldford decided to help bring Old Glory back as part of a summertime Eagle Scout project.

Passer Community Association fundraising chair Tim Litzenberger explained that the community center board had long wanted to replace the flagpole that previously stood outside the building, which is along Richlandtown Pike.

Oldford–who was assisted by fellow scouts–dug the hole for the pole, mixed concrete and set the new pole in it in July.

Funding for the project came from the Doris Koch Holschwander Memorial Fund. A past president of the PCA, Holschwander had attended Passer school as a child. She and other Koch family alumni will be memorialized on a plaque next to the flagpole, which will be dedicated at noon on Saturday, Sept. 13, when Oldford will ceremonially raise the first flag on it.

The ceremony will coincide with a schoolhouse tour and open house that are planned in partnership with the Springfield Township Historical Society, which is sponsoring a tour of former township schools that will end at Passer Community Center.

Self-guided tour booklets will be available for a $5 donation.

Litzenberger and PCA acting board president Kristin Roth said that in addition to installing the flagpole, Oldford assisted the association with several other important maintenance and beautification projects. One project involved excavating along the building’s foundation, so red stone and bricks could be set in the ground to prevent water from infiltrating the basement.

This stabilization project was part of the group’s ongoing efforts to maintain the building’s structural integrity, Roth said.

Oldford also helped install a memorial bench and walkway adjacent to the flagpole. The bench and walkway will be dedicated in memory of former Passer volunteers Jen Keller and Pam Roeder, who were both very active with the organization.

For more information about Passer Community Association, including volunteer and donor opportunities, visit Passercommunity.org.