Eagle Scout Candidate Builds Food Pantry For Astoria Community To Support One Another
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - In this time of need, we look to people who are making a difference.
An Eagle Scout candidate in Queens is proving his willingness to do good, CBS2's Steve Overmyer reported.
The theory behind the Little Free Pantry in Astoria is simple: Take what you need, leave what you can.
The pantry is a project at Astoria Lutheran School, created by 14-year-old Eagle Scout candidate Lucas McGarvey.
The final project to become an Eagle Scout is to help the community. This achieved the goal.
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"It hadn't been active for even a day, and people already started taking food from the pantry and contributing food back," Lucas said. "Just to see that involvement so quickly, was a really, really great feeling."
His parents are physicians. While they were on the front lines, Lucas spent about a month building the pantry with materials donated by local businesses.
"I've never built anything like this before... and one of the best feelings throughout was just to see that first wooden frame work," said Lucas, who had to adapt to ensure everything fit together.
"You can't just go with your plan. Things might not always work out and you need to change to get to the final product," he said.
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Food insecurity has doubled in New York City since the coronavirus pandemic started.
Little pantries like this provide a direct pipeline to those in need in the neighborhood.
"I hope that it inspires them to create their own projects and maybe build their own little food pantries... food insecurity is a really big issue and just one food pantry isn't going to solve that. So, the more of the these that we have in New York City... the more people we can help," said Lucas.
It started as a final project on the journey to being an Eagle Scout, and it's become a conduit for the community to help each other.
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