Jacob Beeghley, a Scout with Troop 23 at St. Catherine Labouré Parish in Harrisburg, focused his recent Eagle Scout project on assisting the residents of Lourdeshouse, Catholic Charitie’s maternity home for women and their babies.
Beeghley, a freshman at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg a member of its wrestling team, hosted a wrestling clinic for elementary through high school students. Instead of charging an admission fee for the clinic, led by Messiah College’s wrestling coach Bryan Brunk, Beeghley requested that attendees bring toiletries and cleaning supplies for Lourdeshouse.
As a result of the clinic, held Oct. 27 at the Cage Training Center in Mechanicsburg, Beeghley collected boxes, bags and baskets filled with bath towels, cleaning supplies, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes and detergent. He presented the carload of items to Christopher Meehan, Catholic Charities’ Director of Development, on Oct. 30 at the Diocesan Center in Harrisburg.
“I decided to collect for Catholic Charities, because I realize how good of a charity Lourdeshouse is, and how the effort could help the mothers there,” Beeghley said.
“I was surprised by how many items people donated at the event,” he said. I expected them to bring maybe one or two items, but I saw people bringing baskets full of items, and I was overwhelmed by their generosity.”
Lourdeshouse provides maternity care and residential services to pregnant women and their babies, including childbirth education, parenting classes, transportation and aftercare. For information on Lourdeshouse and other Catholic Charities’ programs, visit www.cchbg.org.
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
