Wilder Davis was quickly approaching a milestone that he and many other boy scouts dream of throughout their childhoods: Attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. He was the second-highest rank, Life Scout, and the only challenge that lied in his way of attaining the highly coveted rank was his Eagle Scout Project.
An Eagle Scout Project has to benefit a scout’s community and help them grow or demonstrate the leadership skills they have fostered during their time as a scout.
“It’s a really valuable project,” Wilder said. “It helps you give back and understand and respect your community, and teaches leadership, problem-solving, stuff like that.”
At first, Wilder had no idea what to pursue for his project, but then he remembered a time he had volunteered at St. Vincent de Paul. While serving in the Dream Center, which gives educational support to the underprivileged kids who visit the Family Dining Room, he noticed a large collection of Legos for the kids to play with.
That sparked an idea for Wilder, a way to combine his love of Legos and creativity and contribute to his community. He was going to hold a Lego drive for the kids in the Dream Center.
“I've just always really loved Lego, and so I wanted to bring some joy to the kids,” Wilder said. “I know a lot of the kids here don’t come from the most financially stable situations right now, so I felt like having one special day when you get a really nice gift, I feel like that's really nice.”
Wilder sprang into action. He contacted SVdP and worked with them to set up a drive so people could donate online, then started telling his friends, family, and community about the drive so they could contribute either financially or with a physical Lego set.
Wilder’s story was even published in a local newspaper, spreading even more awareness across his entire community.
He kept up with the drive over the course of several months and in the end was extremely successful. He was able to collect 113 Lego sets, in the end valued around $4,500.
To complete the project, Wilder wrapped all the Lego sets, put some basic information on it about what series it was related to and the age range the set was designed for, then brought them all to SVdP’s Family Dining Room on June 5. He and a few friends who helped with the project handed them out to the kids who came with their families, and smiles were not in short supply.
“The event went really well and smoothly, how I was hoping. It felt really good to see all the kids’ faces light up when they got a set. They were excited to see which set they got,” he said. “I am just really hoping that makes their day.”
They were able to hand out most of the sets to the kids at the Dream Center, and those left over were given to the Dream Center to be given out another time.
Wilder’s project challenged him in a lot of ways, but he feels like he was able to grow, especially in his leadership skills.
“I learned a lot about time management, but also about how to put myself in others’ shoes,” he said. “My biggest takeaway would be that if you see something that you want to change, don’t feel sorry. Go out of your way to change it. If everyone did that, we’d be able to make a lot more of a difference in the world.”
Scroll for more smiles from Wilder's event...
