Gerald R. Ford earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 1927 at age 14 as a member of Troop 15 at Trinity-United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after earning 26 merit badges. In 1970, he received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and in 1974, he became President of the United States of America. Ford said his early years as a Boy Scout were invaluable in shaping his later life and praised the Scout Oath and the principles of self-discipline, teamwork, and moral and patriotic values as building blocks of character and national strength. A sculpture of Ford as a 14-year-old Eagle Scout was created by artist Charles C. Parks and presented on October 28, 2008, by the Scouts, leaders, and friends of the Gerald R. Ford Council, Boy Scouts of America, to the Gerald R. Ford family and the museum, and was made possible through the generosity of the Jay and Betty Van Andel Foundation and other friends of Ford.