The Monroe County commissioners said Wednesday that they had presented a certificate of recognition to Nicholas Vyprynyuk for receiving his Eagle Scout award.

Commissioner David Parker said he presented the certificate to Vyprynyuk the prior weekend.

“The Eagle Scout ceremony was the first one I’ve ever been to that had an international project,” he said.

Vyprynyuk’s Eagle Scout project was to collect used fire gear from local fire departments that was no longer needed, and send it to Ukraine for the firefighters there to use. Parker said the Scout collected more than 120 firefighter uniforms and equipment.

A senior at East Stroudsburg High School North, Vyprynyuk is also a member of the Shawnee Fire Company. He and those helping him with the project took off all the identification patches and lettering on the equipment before sending it to Ukraine, Parker said. In return, Vyprynyuk received pictures of the firefighters that received the equipment.

Parker said another interesting thing about Vyprynyuk is that he was a member of Boy Scout Troop 187 in Brooklyn, before moving to the Poconos. After relocating here, he transferred to the local Boy Scout Troop 87 - just one digit different.

During the Eagle Scout ceremony, a consul from the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York City attended in order to thank Vyprynyuk for his project and our country in general, Parker said. And one of Vyprynyuk’s family members from Ukraine traveled to the area for the ceremony to present him with a plaque from the firefighters in Ukraine that he helped.