A neighborhood in Washington Township is set to glow with more than 1,000 candles on Christmas Eve.
Washington Acres will host a luminary evening beginning at 6 p.m. Friday. Light Up Washington Acres is sponsored by Boy Scout Troop 211, based in Delmont.
The event serves as a fundraiser for the troop to help finance camping trips.
Boy Scout Jayden Mattis, a junior at Kiski Area High School, began selling luminary kits in November for $10 each in his Washington Acres neighborhood.
“The more fundraising you do, the more he can put in a Scout account to go to different outings,” Scoutmaster George Caldwell said.
Each kit contains 10 candles, sand and bags. Each participating resident builds the luminaria, lines them up in front of their house along the road and lights them.
Jayden sold more than 100 kits and anticipates about 85 homes in Washington Acres will participate.
Caldwell said the event was scheduled last year as a way to brighten the holidays during the pandemic.
Other participating neighborhoods are in Murrysville. They include Heather Ridge, Brookshire Court, Burwick Court, Devonwood Court, Dundee Drive, Forbes Trail Drive, Hickory Hill Road, Kellington Court and Trout Haven Drive.
Last year, Jayden raised about $500 selling luminary kits for his own Scout account. He said he’ll apply his earnings toward camping trips to New Mexico and Tennessee next year.
“Things cost a lot of money these days. Twenty years ago, summer Scout camps were about $125, and now they’re $450,” Caldwell said. “Jayden is one of the best Scouts I ever had. He has a lot of energy and ideas. He’s a great spokesperson and motivating.”
Jayden’s mother, Joy Mattis, said the inaugural luminary event was well-received.
“I enjoyed watching the excitement in the kids as they walked around the neighborhood,” she said. “It was nice, since it was a covid year, to see people that we hadn’t interacted with very much.”
Caldwell said this type of fundraiser is collaborative, and he chose selling luminaries instead of Christmas trees or wreaths.
“It’s a lot of kids building together, working together and distributing them together,” Caldwell said. “They have teamwork and use community service to make a holiday visually appealing. It gets the people in the spirit of Christmas more.”
