FAIRHOPE — After 180 hours of preparation, assembling and painting tires, Eagle Scout Brody Gwaltney delivered 10 tire beds to the Baldwin County Humane Society for incoming animals.

When deciding what to take on for his Eagle Scout project, Gwaltney said he knew he wanted to focus on a topic that would benefit something he deeply cares for.

"What inspired me was that I wanted to do something involving recycling because a lot of my friends were doing recycling projects for Eagle Scouts," Gwaltney said. "I knew I have a passionate love for animals, so I thought 'why not combine both of those?'"

Made with vehicle tires, including two FedEx truck tires, animal-safe paint, cushions and even springs, the Eagle Scout wanted to ensure these beds would be sustainable, safe and comfortable for the animals.

On Nov. 21, Gwaltney traveled to BCHS with a trailer loaded with 10 tire beds and even a scratch post for cats.

As the animals sniffed and explored the blue and pink tires, they quickly became comfortable, climbing onto the beds and relaxing.

"It feels great because it is finally like the animals recognize the I have put in a lot of work into these projects," he said. "I am overall overjoyed to see that the animals like it."

Michael Gwaltney, Gwaltney's father, said he was proud to not only watch his son complete his project but also grow as a leader.

"A big part of the Eagle Scout project is learning leadership skills," Michael Gwaltney said. "He had three different workdays where other scouts came over and he led them through the process, and I have really seen him move from writing things down to being able to write it down and then communicate it to his fellow scouts."

The father of the young Eagle Scout noted his son not only finished his project but executed the plan well.

"We had to come up with the design and we sat down, and we would stare at the tires for like 10 to 15 minutes," he said. "We could have just wrapped the fabric around, thrown some screws in there, but we wanted to make it really integrated, functional and easy to clean."

BCHS Director Abby Pruett was pleased to accept these beds, noting the Human Society is a donation-based organization.

"Everything you see here is because of the support of the community," Pruett said. "We are not funded by any bigger entity or the county or anything. So having someone donate items like this that are going to be able to be used for years because of sustainability is a really big deal."

The director added that she is excited to see the younger generation be passionate about helping animals.

"We are going to hopefully continue to be a successful organization because young people like this are investing their time and effort into helping our animals," she said. "So having a young person like Brody do this and be a big shining example of what can be done is really important."