A local Scout was volunteering at a local food pantry with his family when he noticed that the nonprofit could use new furnishing.
So, Simon Starnes, 14, a Life Scout with Boy Scout Troop 21 , decided to build new furniture for Sister BJ’s Pantry himself. As part of his Eagle Scout project, Starnes and several of his troop members built four new picnic tables for the pantry, 819 NW 4, which offers free weekend meals to people in the downtown Oklahoma City area experiencing homelessness.
“I went to volunteer there for the Sunday mission, which is making breakfast for the homeless and then handing it out to them. But as I was doing it, I saw the tables were were in bad shape and a lot of them were warped and splintering,” Simon said.
He said he knew that going to the pantry for breakfast was a special part of the week for pantry visitors and he wanted to enhance their experience with new tables and seating.
“I kind of wanted to help fix that. I thought that if I built those (tables), it could definitely help make the experience a lot better for them,” he said.