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Daniel Gollnick, an Eagle Scout and recent graduate of Bangor High School, recently built a precious gift for the residents of Mulder Health Care Facility in West Salem — a raised plant bed so residents in wheelchairs could do a little gardening or perhaps once again enjoy the smell of fresh dirt or a blooming flower.

Gollnick, the son of Janice and Thomas Gollnick, is no stranger to the nursing home. In fact, he has been going to Mulder once a week for the past four years. It all started because his grandma was living at Mulder.

“She was there when I was a freshman,” he said.

Although his grandmother passed on not long after that, Gollnick did not stop visiting the home — even after his 60 hours of community service were up. In all, he’s done 300 hours of community service while in high school.

His persistence certainly made a big impression on Joyce Schulz, Mulder’s recreation director. “I’m just amazed by the dedication to come here for four years, every Tuesday after school for an hour and a half,” Schulz said. “He would go from table to table to help with games like trivia or keno and other conversation-starting activities. If nothing was going on, he’d help me with my prep time.

“I guess I’m showing my bias, but I just did not expect a high school kid to show that much interest. He blew me away — he’s just such an awesome kid!” she added.

Gollnick saw the need for a raised plant bed and then figured out how to make it happen. “I kind of came up with the idea on my own,” he said. “I’ve been in the Boy Scouts since kindergarten, and I decided to build the plant bed as an Eagle Scout project.”

Gollnick solicited funds and materials from the West Salem American Legion, the West Salem Lions Club, the Bangor VFW, Blizzard Busters snowmobile club, the 4H Striped Strivers and Heider Excavating.

“He had it all planned out and built it in one day with the help of some of his scouting friends,” Schulz said. “He even brought along nine tomato plants and a bunch of flowers.”

Because Mulder is currently in the midst of a construction boom, the patio area where the raised plant bed is situated has not had quite as much use as it will in the coming months. Still, Schulz has heard positive comments already.

“One of the residents in a nearby wing was very excited to see the raised garden bed and flowers — normally the patio is the hub of our summer activities with cookouts or just being outside on a nice day. It’s going to get a lot of use,” Schulz said.

Two weeks ago, Gollnick left Wisconsin on a new adventure. He drove to Alaska and will spend the summer working as a cook at a lodge in Denali National Park. Given his love of the outdoors, his mother, Janice, is not sure what his future plans are.

“He may not come back,” she admitted. But, even if he remains thousands of miles away, his parting gift will continue to give pleasure to the wheelchair-bound at Mulder.