MONROE — Cub Scout Joshua Hawken has heavy shoulders.
The Chain Lake Elementary School fifth-grader proudly wears all 20 of his Cub Scout Webelos pins. Worn on his shoulder, the pins signify he has completed specific badge work to move on to the next level of Scouting.
Soon he’ll make the transition to the Boy Scouts. But with his Webelos work complete, 10-year-old Joshua recently found a little extra time on his hands to start another project.
“I was going to our kitchen when I saw that my dad was on the computer,” Joshua said. “He told me about giving away kits to families of soldiers that are serving, and I thought maybe this could be something that I could do too.”
The kits are 72-hour survival kits for individuals manufactured by American Preparedness, a Seattle company. They include a flashlight, body warmers, a poncho, an emergency blanket, a safety whistle, food, water and other emergency equipment. The kits are provided to Joshua in conjunction with the Ladies Auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Project Protect Program.
Each kit costs $50. Joshua’s goal is to raise enough money to give away at least 200 kits to families of those in the military who are preparing to deploy. So far, he’s raised enough money to purchase 20 kits.
The first round of donations will be tallied Saturday, but he’ll continue to collect donations through December, Joshua said.
“I’d like to raise $25,000,” he said. “If we need to we’ll just go longer.”
Joshua is working hard to collect donations, according to his father, Matt Hawken. Donations are collected through a Bank of America account and although his son doesn’t see the money, people have told him they’re donating.
“It can be a donation of spare change to a thousand dollars,” he said. “He’s working hard, doing a heck of a job.”
Joshua wrote a letter asking for donations in October.
“I think that the families of the Americans who are serving our country need 72-hour kits to keep their families safe in case something happens,” Joshua wrote. “Someday, when I am old enough to serve my country, it would be nice to know my family is OK and that everything is going smoothly when I am away.”
Joshua’s great grandfather, his two grandfathers and his grandmother all served in the military, he said.
His dedication is inspiring, said Travis Alldredge, a family friend who works for American Preparedness.
“He is just trying to help out where he can,” Alldredge said. “It’s so neat to me that this is for the families, they’re the ones that get overlooked.”
The Ladie’s Auxiliary VFW would like Joshua to be the main speaker during a presentation of the kits at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in late December, said Diane Small, director of Project Protect.
“He’s a very dedicated Cub Scout who doesn’t let much moss grow on his feet,” she said. “Our country’s in good hands if he’s an example of what we have coming up.”
So far, Joshua said raising money for the kits just makes him feel good and has taught him how to talk to more people. At an emergency preparedness fair in Maple Valley on Oct. 10 he told people about his project.
“At first it was hard to talk to people and then, at the fair, I just kept talking and talking to people and I ended up talking to a bunch of people,” he said.
Joshua isn’t only asking for money from others. He contributed $100 of his own money to buy kits. Someday, he said, he may purchase or make up a kit for himself.
“As long as I pay for it I can get my own,” he said.
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.
You can help
You can help provide American Preparedness kits to the families of military personnel. Checks can be made out to “LAVFW Project Protect Program” and mailed to: Bank of America, Attn: Andy Bloom, 5003 Pacific Highway E, Fife, WA 98424-2607. For more information, contact Diane Small at 360-914-0319, dhsmall344@comcast.net or go to www.auxdeptwa.org.
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