The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
SCOUT, COMPANY TEAM UP FOR VETS
Eagle Scout: Pennsylvania teen seeks out Sherrill Manufacturing to help homeless veterans
SHERRILL, N.Y. » For a Boy Scout, a culminating service project is one of the final hurdles on the journey to attaining Scouting’s most recognized and prestigious honor: the rank of Eagle Scout.
A Scout must plan, develop, and provide leadership to others as part of a service project designed to help the local community.
For Macungie, Pa. 15 year- old Jack McElhenney of Troop 131, the service project means helping Hope For Veterans, a notfor-profit organization, get homeless veterans back on their feet. In order to follow through on his plan, McElhenney had to travel 3.5 hours to Oneida County and the City of Sherrill to complete a purchase order of flatware from Sherrill Manufacturing and its Liberty Tabletop line of flatware.
When he reached out
to Hope For Veterans with an idea to create care packages for veterans aided by the not-for-profit, McElhenney was informed that while the agency could provide financial assistance to veteran and veteran families at risk of homelessness or those already homeless, often times, household necessities, flatware in particular, were in demand.
So, after learning of Sherrill Manufacturing and the Silver City company’s mission of creating a 100 percent Made in America product via the Internet, McElhenney knew Central New York held the answer to meeting his flatware demands. Throughout the past year, Jack and his father Jim McElhenney corresponded back and forth with Sherrill Manufacturing in order purchase $1,000 worth of flatware at a significant discount in order to fulfill his plan.
On Wednesday, Jack and Jim made the trip from Pennsylvania to meet Sherrill Manufacturing owners Matt Roberts and Greg Owens for a factory tour to get a behind-the-scenes peek at operations. The father and son duo took in the creation process, starting with coils of American steel waiting to be transformed, and ending with a stack of 80 sets of flatware waiting to be taken back to Pennsylvania.
“What a great idea,” Roberts said after hearing the aspiring Eagle Scout’s plan. “It’s a very noble effort, I like it. We’re very proud to be a part of the project.”
Filling an order for an Eagle Scout, Roberts and Owens said, is a first for Sherrill Manufacturing.
In order to generate funds for the purchase, Jack sold hoagie coupons throughout his community. To complete the project, Jack says he will need a total of $3,000 (including the aforementioned $1,000 for flatware). Always prepared, he already has more fundraising events scheduled to meet his financial goal.
In addition to flatware, he is hoping to include other common household necessities such as bathroom items like shower curtains. Barring any unforeseen complications, Jack hopes to deliver the 80 care packages to Hope For Veterans by Sept. 1. The visit to Sherrill presented unique logistic challenges and a professional level of communication, as is expected of Eagle Scout projects.
“This was the hardest part of the project by far,” Jack said.
The Hope For Veterans Drop-In Center in Allentown, Pa., Jack intends to help is an extension of the agency’s Supportive Ser- vices for Veteran Families (SSVF) Programs and is available free-of-charge to any veteran or veteran family members who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless. On-site staff provides information and resources for veteran households seeking housing and support services.
Inspiration for the Pennsylvania teen’s Eagle Scout project was born after participating in a Veteran’s Day ceremony in which his school honored vets with songs and roses. The ceremony evoked a desire to help veterans struggling to acclimate to civilian life. Jack said he was struck by the fact that homelessness rates among veterans were “ridiculously high.”
“I have to do something for veterans and the homeless,” Jack, an aspiring engineer who will carry a 3.92 GPA into his sophomore year, said to himself following the presentation.
And though he hardly seemed to need it, sporting 59 merit badges (Eagle Scouts are required to earn 21 badges) on his New York visit, Jack has a successful model to follow in his older brother Brock who also earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
When asked how it felt to be the father of not one but two Eagle Scouts, Jim, an assistant troop leader, was quick to respond.
“Unbelievably proud. We must have done something right,” he said.