Tucked away in a wooded thicket, three local Boy Scouts found their calling.

As they reached the final phase of their scouting careers, these young men turned within in search of a final Eagle Scout project.

Although they had never met before this month, Michael Piggott, Tyler Nicholls and Justin McKell shared a common goal to give back to Birth to Three, a Federal Way non-profit that provides early intervention services to infants and toddlers who have developmental delays.

Birth to Three began providing services-like occupational, physical and speech therapy-in 1966, and has continued to expand its coverage to a steadily-increasing number of children and families in the past 30 years.

According to Assistant Director Tom Springsteen, Birth to Three has experienced an explosion of need, and the organization began to outgrow the facilities at its headquarters off 356th Street. Birth to Three served 378 children in 2005 alone, he said.

The organization began looking for ways to expand its parking lot to accommodate its guests, and Piggott, a junior at Todd Beamer, showed up willing to lend a hand.

"During the morning hours," said Director Maryanne Barnes as she pointed to the thin strip of asphalt connecting the two buildings on the site, "there's not a space to be had."

"Michael chose a project that reflected the kind of services he needed as a child," Barnes said.

Piggott, from Troop 366, was born without muscle tone in parts of his body and utilized services like those offered at Birth to Three to help him develop into a strong young man.

The Scout grabbed tools and a team of volunteers and began hacking away at a new site that will extend the parking area down the Birth to Three property on 6th Place Southwest by an additional 90'x15'.

Piggott has faced a few obstacles, including some Boy Scouts paperwork and a thriving bees nest, but insists he'll finish the grating and graveling by the end of the summer. The teenager has a battle planned with an old growth stump that occupies a large portion above and beneath the site.

"Our biggest challenge is that," Piggott said, pointing to the stump. "It's a big one."

Even though he still has more work ahead, Piggott said he already feels rewarded by the experience of collaborating with Birth to Three.

"I was reading a newsletter Birth to Three put out," Piggott said, "and they called me a hero."

Although a few years separated their work, Justin McKell and Tyler Nicholls took on a series of landscaping projects on Birth to Three's lower campus.

"It was a lot of fun," said Nicholls, a recent Thomas Jefferson graduate, as he looked around at the hundreds of square feet of mulch he spread. He brought with him a handful of photographs documenting his project, which included installing a concrete sidewalk extension that would accommodate wheelchairs.

Like Piggott, Nicholls battled with low muscle tone as a small child, and his family used Birth to Three's services.

"I'm really glad to give back (to Birth to Three)," Nicholls said. "They had a real need, and it certainly fit the scope of an Eagle project."

McKell, whose younger brother needed assistance from the organization, turned a bed of railroad ties and overgrown junipers into a flourishing garden that has thrived in the three years since he completed his project.

The Scout said he struggled with the junipers until he brought in a backhoe, which made light of the thick-limbed plants.

With more than a badge to show for their work, these young men have left a legacy on an organization that has made a difference in their lives.

Barnes looked around her facility at the spoils of their labor and smiled. "We've got a great group of guys here," she said.