Ferndale Soup Grant Gives Boy Scouts a New Tent

(Crystal A. Proxmire, March 1, 2012 ed)

Ferndale Soup continues to spread community love and support.  This month’s Soup event raised $135 for Boy Scout Troop #1542.

The Boy Scouts went up against Motor City Free Geek to see which project would take home the money raised by the $5 door donations.  Those who attended paid $5 and enjoyed two different types of soup, bread and salad.  They listened to the presentations and used voting beans to select the project they collectively wanted to fund.  Both groups had great ideas, but the Boy Scouts and supporters packed the room.

Angelo Soave is one of 26 Boy Scouts in the quickly-growing troop.  This past year and a half they have gone from six members to twenty-six. Meeting out of Drayton Avenue Presbyterian, the young men from Ferndale, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge and Royal Oak Township learn teamwork and survival skills, do community service and go camping.

“Us Boy Scouts, we need the funds because our troop started off small and it’s grown larger and larger so we need to purchase tents so everybody has a place to sleep and they don’t have to sleep out in the wilderness,” Soive said.

Scout Master Pat Landry explained some of the Scouts activities.

“It is a boy run troop, the boys plan everything themselves,” Landry said.  “It’s a good group.  We like to have fun.  We camp once a month and that’s how they’ve grown themselves…We have a big camp out in July.”

He gave examples of how Scouting helps the boys grow.  “Sean Monahan is a second year scout who went to summer camp,” Landry said.  “Sean said the greatest thing he learned at summer camp is it helped him get ready for junior high.  He got to interact with all kinds of kids. Going from sixth grade to junior high can be tough on a kid, but camping and that can encourage them.”

In addition to camping, the troop spends time doing things like passing out fliers for causes, bottle drives, collecting canned food for the needy, and helping out with Cub Scout Pack 1221.

Landry’s wife Barb is also involved in supporting the troop.  “My son is 15, in since the first grade.  I like that it gives them mentorship and teaches them leadership. These boys will go on to college knowing how to take care of themselves, and that’s great for a parent to know.”

Steph Turner, a Ferndale resident, visited Ferndale Soup for the first time.  “I voted for the Boy Scouts,” she said.  “I was impressed more that they needed it for a more immediate need.  I was impressed that they gave a scout a chance to talk.  He did a good job in front of all these people.”

Leo Zimmer spoke on behalf of Motor City Free Geek, explaining that it is a group of guys that like to work on computers that recognize the dangers posed to the environment when computers are recycled improperly.

“You turn your computer in to be recycled, and they’re usually shipped overseas and the wires are melted down without regulation,” Zimmer said.  “This stuff gets into the atmosphere and travels all over the word. That’s the stuff we get to breathe.”

Motor City Free Geek is dedicated to taking old computers and fixing them to be donated to charities.  Those that can’t be fixed are disassembled and recycled in ways that are less harmful to the environment.  The group has an office at Paper Street and is always looking for funding and volunteers.

Ferndale Soup began last month as a project of Paper Street, a unique co-operative building project that gives start up entrepreneurs the chance to rent space inexpensively and share resources, like meeting space.

Last month three projects were discussed: a community farm, a music-based social justice website, and a group that mows inner-city playgrounds.  The Mower Gang got the most votes and the money they collected will be used for gas and beverages for the team of volunteers.

Read more about last month’s Ferndale Soup here.  Find out about future Ferndale Soups (third Sunday of each month at Paper Street, 1511 W. Jarvis) on their website.

Ferndale Soup is also the Feb. 2012 Charity of Choice.  That means if you donate through any of the “donate” buttons on this website through the end of February, 85% of the money will go towards next month’s Ferndale Soup prize.  Please give what you can today.  The remaining 15% goes to help The Ferndale 115 News with operating expenses.