Evan's Story, Chapter 26, the Eagle

The Eagle

And the King shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you,
 inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 25-40

Evan was an enthusiastic boy scout from the start. The LDS Church encourages the boys to be involved and we sponsor our own Cub Scout dens and Boy Scout troops. The requirements for Eagle Scout are twenty one merit badges and an approved service project. The service project must benefit an organization and require several hours of work.

The seed was planted when Evan saw a video clip of disabled children crawling on the ground in third world countries. He always had a wheelchair. He knew that his wheelchair greatly increased his access to the world. But boys and girls, who were disabled like Evan, were living terrible lives on the ground. Meanwhile, he had an old wheelchair in the garage. Lots of people had used wheelchairs in their garages. His project was to collect used wheelchairs and donate to an organization that would get the wheelchairs to these people. He set a goal of one hundred wheelchairs.

Cindy helped to find the website for Wheels For Humanity. This organization collects and repairs used wheelchairs. They are then donated to disabled people throughout the world. The Boy Scouts of America enthusiastically approved his Eagle Project. The local media was notified.

The response from the community was fantastic. Goodwill Industries agreed to provide storage during this project. The Boy Scout Troop agreed to clean the wheel chairs. Wheels For Humanity was grateful for the donation.

Evan was interviewed by reporters from the local newspapers and television stations. 

Adrienne Moore, KSBY News, and Evan

As I have said before, Evan will do anything to get his name in the paper and be on television. I suspect he likes being interviewed by pretty female reporters. As a result of this media coverage,  Evan was able to collect one hundred and thirty wheelchairs. 

He also met another television star. Wheels For Humanity is based in North Hollywood. We thought it would be interesting to attend an open house at Wheels For Humanity. We toured their facilities and chatted with other folks over refreshments. David Hasselhoff was there. He was the star of the Knight Rider television series in the 1980s. I had seen the opening episode and I enjoyed chatting with him about that. His most recent work was the animated movie, Sponge-Bob Square-pants.  David Hasselhoff tried to tell Evan about the movie.

Evan stated, “I’m not into Sponge Bob Square-pants.”

Evan was not impressed. The poor Hollywood star’s ego was crushed.

When the deadline for obtaining the wheelchairs arrived, Evan had well over one hundred wheelchairs and scooters. His scout troop, Troop 234, helped clean off the dust and grime. A truck from Wheels For Humanity took possession of the wheelchairs. Evan’s project was a rolling success. After a final board of review, Evan was an Eagle Scout.

The next thing on the agenda was Evan’s Eagle Court of Honor. This was a tremendous celebration of Evan’s accomplishment. We invited the entire Boy Scout Troop and their families, and everyone who knew Evan, to join the celebration. My mother and father and all my other children were there.

It was our great pleasure to ask Dr. Bravo to be a speaker. Evan had come a long way since this great doctor first met Evan. Then he was a premature, medically fragile, newborn baby. Today, he was being honored as an Eagle Scout. 

Back row: Grandpa Gayle, cousin Sean, Uncle Steve, Grandma Viola, Mike, Rachel, John, Katie, cousin Tiffany, Sariah, David and Cindy.  Front row: April, Mateo, Evan, Andrew, and Spencer