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GREENSBORO — On warm afternoons, the cedar swing offered a retreat, two or three settling in and rocking in the shade.

But on Sunday night, the swing — part of Thomas Mincher’s Eagle Scout project — was sawed apart and stolen from the senior apartment community on on Spry Street.

“It’s horrible now that you can’t have anything … (with) people just coming in and taking stuff that doesn’t belong to them,” said Hattie Gerringer, property manager at Rankin School Place.

Mincher left yesterday for a Boy Scout trip and doesn’t know about the theft. But his mother, Laura Mincher, said he will be devastated to hear the news.

“Every time we went out there, the older ladies were sitting in the swing,” she said. “He was excited that he actually did something that helped people.”

Mincher built the park area — including a swing, picnic table and garden — last summer. It was orchestrated by the 15-year-old and completed with the help of friends in Troop 214.

John Meeks, executive director for the Boy Scouts’ Old North State Council, said an Eagle project is a massive undertaking. Last year, the 248 projects in the Piedmont area logged more than 30,000 work hours.

In his 26 years, this is Meeks’ first time seeing one stolen.

“You have one shining example of community service on one hand,” he said. “And then on the other hand you have another shining example of why our communities need Scouting so much.”

Mincher paid for the project by mowing lawns. Grandparents and troop members chipped in.

When he finished building, Mincher went back a half-dozen times to plant flowers and clean the space. He’s shy, his mother said, but he grew close with many of the residents, who live between Summit Avenue and U.S. 29 in northeast Greensboro.

“Every time we would pull up they would recognize our car and they would come out to talk to him and tell him thank you,” she said.

He had planned to go back this summer to check on the space.

It always went to good use, Gerringer said.

“They sit back there and swing and have their picnics,” she said.

Laura Mincher is sure her son will insist on replacing the swing.

He’s mowed a lot of grass in the past year. And he’s sure to mow a lot more in the weeks to come.

“He will work (to) pay for another one,” she said. “He wants that swing.”

Contact Tricia L. Nadolny at 373-7028 or tricia.nadolny@news-record.com