Pasco Eagle Scout Mobile Food Pantry Bus Awarded National Honors

TAMPA, FL — In their quest to earn the coveted designation of Eagle Scout, members of the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council of Boy Scouts of America have carried out a variety of community projects, a major requirement to earn the Eagle rank.

Scouts have held book drives, built dog parks, collected blankets for the homeless and hosted sports camps.

However, the Eagle Scout project of one New Port Richey Scout not only wowed his community, it received national accolades.

After witnessing the desperate need for food in his community during the coronavirus pandemic, Jackson Davis, a student at Wendell Krinn Technical High in New Port Richey, began mulling over ideas on ways he could help, and turned to one of the nonprofit organizations in the community that helps feed those need.

Since 2014, Bob Gardner has been helping to feed low-income families, veterans and homeless people in the community through his nonprofit organization, Messengers of Hope Mission, 14426 Black Lake Road, Odessa. He also provides Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, gives out toys children and provides hygiene products and other necessities.

Since those in need aren't likely to have transportation so they can access his services at the mission, Gardner and his volunteers would regularly box up food, toys, clothes and other necessities, place them in vehicles and then form a caravan to a parking lot where they'd spend hours setting up in preparation for the crowds of needy residents.

That process was the norm until Davis stepped in.

He came up with the idea of converting an old school bus into a mobile food pantry that Gardner could drive to parking lots to pass out items.

After raising $15,000, he converted an old school bus into a mobile food pantry for Messengers of Hope Mission.

Davis raised $15,000 through donations from local service organizations, neighbors and friends, a GoFundMe campaign and by offering sponsorships to businesses to have their business name placed on a sign affixed to the exterior of the bus.

After removing all the seats on the bus, Davis outfitted the bus with storage shelves that could be filled with food and other items, and freezers to store frozen goods. He even installed a take-out window so the volunteers could hand items directly to residents from inside the bus. The finishing touch was a distinctive coat of bright blue paint on the exterior of the bus.

Although the concept was fairly simple, to Gardner and his volunteers, it was nothing short of miraculous. The mobile food pantry allowed the mission to drive to the locations where their services were needed without all the hassle of filling and carrying boxes to cars and trucks and then setting up at a remote location.

“The way most food pantries work is that people have to be able to get themselves to the food pantry and then get the food home. With this bus, we can take it to areas where people might not necessarily have cars. And we can bring the food right to them,” said Davis.

Davis is quick to give credit to his dad, Dave, fellow Scouts in Troop 77, members of the Mitchell High School swim team and the robotics club at Wendell Krinn Technical High School for their help converting the bus.

"I couldn't have done it alone," he said.

While the completion of the project plus earning at least 21 badges earned Davis the highest rank a Scout can achieve, at a reception May 7 hosted by the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council of Boy Scouts of America Service Center, 13228 N. Central Ave., Tampa, Davis' mobile food pantry was awarded the Eagle Project of the Year.

In addition, it was named the BSA National Service winner of the National Eagle Scout Association's Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award for 2023.

The  National Eagle Scout Association established the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award to recognize valuable service of an exceptional nature by an Eagle Scout candidate to a religious institution, school, community or other entity through completion of an Eagle Scout project.

The national winner is chosen from 16 territories around the country by a special selection committee of the  National Eagle Scout Association. National recipients receive $3,500 for their future education or to attend a national or international Scouting event or activity.

The event also included the announcement of the council’s Eagle Scout Project of the Year by Jackson Davis of New Port Richey. He raised $15,000 and worked to turn an old school bus into a mobile food pantry for Messengers of Hope Mission in Odessa.

Davis wasn't the only Scout to be honored at the reception. The council had 236 Scouts who earned the Eagle Scout rank between May 1, 2022, and April 30, announced Grayson Kamm, vice president of Catalyst Communications Group, who served as master of ceremonies for the event.

“You are the best and brightest Scouting has to offer," said Kamm, an Eagle Scout himself.

He said that the class of 2023 Eagles gave almost one million hours of volunteer service through their Eagle Scout projects. Using U.S. Department of Labor figures for employment, Kamm said that was about $23 million worth of service to the community.

Mike Bedke, an attorney with DLA Piper, was the guest speaker at the reception. He has been recognized nationally and internationally for providing pro bono work legal services for those in need.

Bedke praised the Scouts' accomplishments saying, “Fifty years from now, you will remember you made Eagle. And you will be just as proud as you are now — perhaps even more.”

Serving as the color guard for the event were Davis; Jaymin Anzaldua, 18, who attends Windsor Academy in Tampa; and Logan Covington, 16, who attends Steinbrenner High in Lutz.