Eagle Scout project sets example and donates computers to hurricane victims

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

By donating recycled computers to Hurricane Katrina victims for an Eagle Scout project, fifteen-year-old Harrison Bryant hopes to teach fellow Boy Scout members and other young people that adults are not the only people who can make a difference.

“Kids can help out, not just adults,” Bryant said. “We can make a huge impact helping out the community.”

On Saturday March 18, Owensboro Boy Scout Troop 10 will gather at First Christian Church at 700 J. R. Miller Blvd to accept donations of old computers, functional or in need of repair.

Harrison Bryant’s scout-led project focuses on a service that benefits the community, and he acting on it and has so far received strong support from the community, especially the First Christian Church, Malcolm Bryant said.

According to Malcolm Bryant, Harrison’s father and scout master since 2001, “These young men, when they work on the Eagle project, they have to find a project that deals with service and involves other volunteers.”

Harrison Bryant has been planning his Eagle Scout project for the past six months and he will receive Eagle Scout status when he completes it. “We wanted to do something that was going to involve the twenty-first century,” he said.

If Harrison Bryant is able to rally the support he seeks, he hopes to have two to three truckloads of computers and computer equipment to drive down to New Orleans.
Malcolm Bryant said Gene Iglehart from Bowling Green has volunteered to repair or clean any computers to bring them up to speed. Iglehart, who has taken part in other computer donations for hurricane victims, has also supplied Harrison Bryant with a contact to the Capital Area Corporation Recycling Council in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to distribute the computers where they are needed most.

“They’ve been the central spot for distributing donations to hurricane victims,” Malcolm Bryant said.

“With this project,” Harrison Bryant said, “you can recycle your unwanted electronics (e-waste) and maybe help someone at the same time,” Harrison Bryant said. “There isn’t an environmentally friendly way to dispose computers in the area.”

“To our knowledge,” Malcolm Bryant said, “there hasn’t been a computer recycling event in Owensboro, so this is kind of a landmark.”

Harrison Bryant, who has been in the Cub Scouts since fourth grade said, “This can set an example for all other kids. You yourself can make a difference no matter what.”