Eagle Scout candidate plans to revamp Gateway food pantry

Keegan Parady, a high school freshman and Boy Scout with Troop 220 in Pitcairn, plans to revamp the busy food pantry area at Monroeville’s Gateway High School for his Eagle Scout project.

Parady volunteers with the food pantry, helping with donations and distribution from a busy room located at the high school. The pantry provides more than 150 meals for students through a Backpack Program and serves roughly 650 families in the community during a monthly drive-thru distribution.

Backpacks are packed by honors society students for distribution each Friday.

School board member Valerie Warning has been involved with Gateway’s Backpack Program for several years.

“Keegan approached me and asked if he could design the room to benefit our needs in a more productive way,” Warning said.

According to Keegan’s mother, Kristen Parady, Keegan designed a diagram with his plans for the room and then presented his idea to the school board in January. His design was approved.

“While working the pantry, I noticed that the area was always cramped and disorganized,” Parady said in his letter to the board. “This disorganization has increased the amount of time spent filling backpacks and caring for our Gateway families.”

Keegan’s plan includes building and installing multiple shelving units to better facilitate sorting and storage, creating more open space and the ability to rotate stock.

In order to offset the costs of his project — estimated at $4,000 — he has coordinated several fundraisers. Every Friday in March, Keegan sold chocolates during the fish frys at Pitcairn Hose Company #1. On March 2, he sold Sarris candy at the Monroeville Fire and EMS Expo.

Keegan’s biggest fundraiser to-date was a spaghetti dinner at the Pitcairn Park Building on April 28.

“I decided to appeal to people’s appetites” to raise funds for the project, Keegan said.

Keegan plans to begin the pantry’s makeover in late May or early June, his mother said.

He intends to stock the newly renovated space upon completion. He reached out to local establishments in the hopes of setting up collection bins. In May, Keegan will put bins at the Monroeville Municipal Building and the Wilkins Elks #577 in Trafford.

Acceptable donations include oatmeal, applesauce, fruit cups, ramen noodles, pasta, soup, cereal, pudding, pretzels and chips, non-crunchy peanut butter, juice pouches, granola bars, diapers and wipes, toilet paper, toothpaste and hygiene products.

To make a monetary donation, visit https://scouts-bsa-troop-220-102102.square.site/. For more information call 412-432-6753 or email troop220scoutsbsa@gmail.com.