Aspiring Eagle Scout Hosts Veterans Breakfast Sunday At Bourbon Street

CHICAGO — A Beverly teen is poised to receive the highest rank that scouting has to offer. Danny Tait, 17, is on the final leg of his journey to earning the coveted Eagle rank where he’ll be hosting a complimentary breakfast for veterans this Sunday, March 30, at 115 Bourbon Street, 3359 W. 115th St., Merrionette Park.

Tait is a member of BSA Troop 684 at Mt. Greenwood Lutheran Church, a charter that has existed for 100 years. The original boy scout troop is one of the oldest in Chicago, including many of the past and current members.

Looking around for his final Eagle project, he thought about the veterans congregating at Ken’s on Western, where he works part-time.

“Food makes people happy,” he said. “I thought it would make the veterans happy.”

Tait wrote a letter to the owners of 115 Bourbon Street – Nick and Lori DiNovo – asking for their support for his Eagle project. The DiNovos graciously agreed to host a breakfast for 45.

“They donated everything,” Tait told Patch while riding home with his parents and sister from a family wedding in Texas.

Tait has reached out to Hometown-Murray VFW Post 9773 and American Legion Post 854 in Evergreen Park, but there is still room at the table for an additional 30 guests. Breakfast will be served at 10 a.m. Sunday. RSVPs will be accepted up until Saturday, March 29. To RSVP or for more information, call or text 773-547-5692.

Tait has been involved in scouting since he was in first grade at St. Cajetan School.

“I’ve been doing it so long, I thought, ‘why not pursue an Eagle,’” Tait said. “Scouting has helped me grow up a lot, the motto of the scouts, all they do to turn people into men and woman.”

To earn the Eagle rank, a scout needs to earn a minimum of 21 merit badges, show Scout Sprit and demonstrate leadership within their troop, crew or ship. Tait has earned 25 merit badges – 21 of which are required for the Eagle rank – and has also logged community service hours organizing food drives and another veterans breakfast.

The goal of achieving the Eagle rank is to build a scout’s confidence and self-esteem, networking and community involvement.

“It’s helped me grow up a lot,” he said.

Eagle Scouts who went on to become famous include Hank Aaron, Neil Armstrong, Walter Cronkite, Jack Black, Steven Spielberg, Bill Gates, Jon Bon Jovi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Tait is not the first member of his family to fly with the Eagles. His older brother, Brendan, now a college freshman, paved the way. His sister, Lily, 16, a sophomore at Mother McAuley, is already thinking about her Eagle project. Kid brother, Evan, a fourth-grader at St. Cajetan, is a member of Cub Scout Pack 3684, also out of Mt. Greenwood Lutheran.

Currently, Tait, a senior at Brother Rice High School, is looking over Grand Valley State near Grand Rapids, Mich. Besides striving for his Eagle rank and working evenings at Ken’s, Tait recently won the Kelly Award for wrestling to senior, all while maintaining honor roll status at Brother Rice.

His mother, Jamie, said scouting has helped get her children break out of their comfort zone.

“It was a different group outside of St. Cajetan and being exposed to different families,” she said. “My mother-in-law, Jeanne Tait, wants to see them through Eagle Scout. She keeps nudging them.”