John Baethke & Sons Helps Local Boy Scouts in Northwest Chicago Earn Merit Badges

As a reputable Chicago plumbing company, we have been providing excellent plumbing services to our customers in Northwest while also focusing on giving back to our local community. Our company’s founder and Troop 57 Assistant Scout Master, John Baethke contributes to the future of Northwest Chicago by working closely with the local Boy Scouts to teach plumbing skills.

There’s a lot more to our plumbing company than industry expertise—we are equally committed to kids’ development.

Earning the Merit Badge

This month, Baethke, the renowned Chicago plumber hosted over a dozen Boy Scouts to teach the basic skills of home plumbing repair. While following CDC guidelines on COVID-19 strictly, these young ones were exposed to the challenging and essential home plumbing skills. These are the skills needed to earn the highly coveted “Plumbing Merit Badge.”

To earn their badge, they performed many plumbing tasks, including:

• Removing a Sink Drain
• Disassembling a Faucet
• Replacing a Faucet Washer
• Drafting Drainage Systems
• Analyzing Plumbing Drawings
• Identifying the Tools and Materials of the Profession
• Explaining the Uses of Drains and Vents
• Threading and Assembly of a Steel Pipe
• Listing the Safety Precautions to Take When Working on Plumbing

For Baethke, teaching these young ones the requirements of the trade was exciting and rewarding because exposure to these lessons gives them a glimpse into the profession, and shows them that plumbing could be a great and rewarding career path to pursue.

Getting Other Contractors Involved

As a representative of the Boy Scouts, Baethke encourages other contractors in Northwest to get involved. Trained contractors are needed to teach these young ones the essential skills of the profession. This is a platform for local businesses to give back to their community and expose young people to the trade.