In a cluttered corner of the parking garage beneath the United Way's Five Points facility in Denver, 17-year-old Carter Baca addresses a small group of volunteers.
The dozen or so fellow members of Boy Scout Troop 707, family, and friends are there to help Carter earn the rank of Eagle Scout.
"This pile is all donations that have been given to the United Way. We're going to be moving them to a different spot," says Baca.
That different spot is a residential facility that the United Way operates. The donations will help furnish apartments for those needing a place to stay.
"We're also going to be building shelving for their food pantry, and after the shelving is built, they're going to be able to support everyone in downtown Denver that needs food near us," Baca said.
The United Way has big plans for its Five Points facility. The COVID outbreak changed the way the public interacted with the organization in its facility, so they're adapting the space to meet the new demands. That includes a new food pantry and space where the United Way can offer free tax help to low-income residents.
This isn't Baca's first time helping the United Way. He and his family came out last year during Xcel's Day of Service, preparing a wall for a new mural. Baca, a Boy Scout, needed an Eagle Scout project. He got talking to the CEO of United Way, who was also there volunteering, and an idea was born. Baca worked with Katy Walton, United Way's vice president of volunteer and community engagement.
"We knew we were going under construction in the next couple of months, and we knew that we needed to clear out a bunch of space and really reorganize the building as a whole to create more space that we can use to store food," said Walton, who went on to say that working with the Boy Scouts is a natural fit for the United Way. "Partnerships with places like Boy Scouts- I think it's essential for the future of Denver and it's exactly what our founders had in mind when they said let's come together."
For four hours, Baca led the volunteers as they filled a U-Haul truck with furniture and other donations, and built a half dozen or so storage shelves. Volunteers would have built more shelves, but the crew unloading the U-Haul needed help carrying large boxes through the narrow stairways of the residential building built long before the days of ADA compliance.
Baca chose this project because he wanted to find something that would benefit the most people for the longest time. "This project is going to be so impactful to the downtown Denver community. [It will] set up infrastructure that's going to last well into my 30s."
Relaxing in the break room with a cold water in one hand and pizza in the other, Baca reflects on his time in Boy Scouts, something he started in the first grade, and is proud to have stuck with: "You get 10 people, eight of them quit."
He calls this project the best Eagle project he could ask for.
"A decade of work culminating in this project today," he said. "It's a beautiful thing."