Above the Challenge members building cardboard mini golf course

May 6—For the past three months, Connor Watson and Aaron DeMayo have been working on turning a pile of cardboard boxes into a mini golf course.

The course, which started as nine holes and quickly expanded to 18, promises to lead attendees of a fundraiser at the Greensburg Church of the Brethren through worlds of dinosaurs and Marvel superheroes, through a jungle and onto a baseball diamond.

The project was started by Watson, 20, of Murrysville, and DeMayo, 22, of Greensburg, in February after they decided to create an activity for people who have been cooped up because of the covid-19 pandemic. They are members of Above the Challenge, a North Huntingdon-based organization that works with individuals in the special needs community.

"Somehow we got talking about (how) you can make these out of cardboard and then they (started) looking it up on their phones and they were like, 'We can make a hole like this,' " said Mary Ann Gerken, co-founder of Above the Challenge. "We have a bunch of cardboard boxes and so right away they started putting them together."

Plans for the course originally called for it to be nine holes, but as time went on, Gerken said, "they had more and more ideas." DeMayo, who came up with the idea for several of the course's holes, said he got inspiration from courses he's played in the past because, he said, "I play a lot of mini golf myself."

Watson added, "When we were there together we were kind of talking about how we want to make the holes a certain way and we just kind of had to think of a creative way to make them and we made them."

The course is under construction at the church located in Southwest Greensburg. Watson and DeMayo work on making and painting each hole multiple times a week and are aided by other Above the Challenge members and Haley Feltes, creative director at the organization.

The mini golf course will debut at the fundraising event, however a date has not yet been determined..

All proceeds will benefit the Greensburg Church of the Brethren, which is used by Above the Challenge for events when the weather does not permit outdoor activities. Several Above the Challenge members also volunteer at the church, helping to take out the garbage and cleaning up after events.

For DeMayo, being able to work on the project is a way to come together as a group to do something that will benefit the community and the church where he volunteers.

Watson agreed, adding, "It means a lot being able to work on this. (It's) something I think is really cool and it's really exciting to work on."

Megan Tomasic is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 724-850-1203, mtomasic@triblive.com or via Twitter .