Student uses Eagle Scout project to help foster kids

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A local high school student is using his Boy Scouts of America project to benefit foster kids in our area.
King High School student Daniel Chavez started out as a cub scout in first grade and now the junior is on his way to join the elite group of Eagle Scouts.
Since 1911 only four percent of scouts have earned the Eagle Scout rank.
"It's not what everyone thinks it is," Chavez said. "It's not that easy."
Each Eagle Scout candidate has to come up with a service project to benefit the community they live in.
"This is an award and an achievement that a young man could put on his resume for the rest of his life," Marty Sepulveda, CEO of South Texas Council of Boys Scouts of America. "It's something that at age 15 or age 55 you can still say 'I'm an Eagle Scout' and it never goes away."
Chavez decided his project would focus on helping foster kids feel a sense of comfort with backpacks filled with blankets, personal items and school supplies.
"So I really wanted to help those that didn't get everything," he said.
His target goal started at 50 comfort bags.
"And then we got backpacks donated and it just grew and grew and it went over what we even expected ourselves," Chavez said.
With help from the community the project doubled in size. Chavez had the help from his fellow scouts to assemble and present the project Monday evening at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
He said he was inspired because a couple of his own friends are foster children. Child Protective Services said they are grateful for his project.
"Unfortunately we have a very high need because we have children that come through our doors to foster care and this helps them have something for themselves when they first come in," Monica Alaniz, CPS Community Initiative Specialist for Northern Region 11 said.
The planning, organizing and fundraising has taken Chavez nearly a year.
"Time is a precious thing -- you have to be connected to other people to know when and how to get it done," Chavez said.
This year alone, well over a hundred candidates in the South Texas Council of Boys Scouts of America will be awarded the Eagle Scout rank after completing their projects.