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JAMIE JONESA high adventure center will be named for the climbing instructor who drowned at Sand Hill Scout Reservation in Hernando County.
They have mourned him. Now they want to honor him.
The Boy Scout council plans to name a new adventure center at the Sand Hill Scout Reservation in Hernando County after Jeff Sharlow.
Sharlow, 16, of St. Petersburg was a climbing instructor at the camp. He drowned in a lake on the property July 25.
On Thursday, at an annual meeting in a Clearwater church, Boy Scout officials announced plans to raise $100,000 for the new Jeff Sharlow High Adventure Center.
By the end of the meeting, officials had received pledges for $17,000 from about 600 volunteers and Scouts in attendance.
"It was members of a family remembering another member of the family," said John Cabeza, Scout executive of the West Central Florida Council of the Boy Scouts.
The new center will rest among the pine and hardwood trees in a roughly 15-acre spot on the reservation. Scouts will be able to hold meetings there, store ropes and other equipment and take bathroom breaks.
The center will anchor the high adventure area, where Scouts use a climbing wall, learn to rappel and compete on ropes courses. Part of the money raised will help upgrade equipment on the property, Cabeza said.
Sharlow loved climbing and spent many hours working on this part of the reservation, Cabeza said.
"The entire area will be Jeff," Cabeza said.
Scout officials have not yet decided what the building will look like. They will ask Sharlow's family for input, Cabeza said.
He wants the center to honor the entire Sharlow family, which includes five more children, all of whom have been involved in Scouting.
"We'll continue to be there for the family," Cabeza said. "We just encourage everyone to remember the Sharlows. They're a wonderful, wonderful family."
To helpAnyone who wants to contribute can send donations to the West Central Florida Council, Jeff Sharlow High Adventure Center Fund, 11046 Johnson Blvd., Seminole FL 33772. Call (727) 391-3800 for information.