Edmond Scout teams up with nun to help feed people experiencing homeless
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September 5, 2024A local Scout was volunteering at a local food pantry with his family when he noticed that the nonprofit could use new furnishing.So, Simon Starnes, 14, a Life Scout with Boy Scout Troop 21, decided to build new furniture for Sister BJ's Pantry himself. As part of his Eagle Scout project, Starnes and several of his troop members built four new picnic tables for the pantry, 819 NW 4, which offers free weekend meals to people in the downtown Oklahoma City area experiencing homelessness.
"I went to volunteer there for the Sunday mission, which is making breakfast for the homeless and then handing it out to them. But as I was doing it, I saw the tables were were in bad shape and a lot of them were warped and splintering," Simon said.
He said he knew that going to the pantry for breakfast was a special part of the week for pantry visitors and he wanted to enhance their experience with new tables and seating.
"I kind of wanted to help fix that. I thought that if I built those (tables), it could definitely help make the experience a lot better for them," he said.
Sister Barbara Joseph Foley, widely known as Sister BJ, said she was excited when Simon told her he planned to build the tables. Foley said the original picnic tables located in the outdoor garden of the pantry are a favorite of the homeless who frequent the pantry. There, sitting at the table, they sip on cups of coffee and food provided by the pantry on Friday and Sunday mornings. Foley said the tables make it easy for her and the ministry's volunteers to sit with the people they serve to find out more about them and to offer them comfort and hope.
Foley, a Carmelite Sister of Saint Therese of the Infant Jesus in Oklahoma City, opened the pantry in 2006 when she realized that shelters in the downtown area were not offering free meals for people experiencing homelessness on weekends. She said that was before some of the meal programs and homeless service providers were around, like the Homeless Alliance's day shelter."I started the pantry so that I could hopefully develop a more relational ministry to the homeless, that's the main reason," she said. "I started it because, in our Catholic faith, we have the 'Works of Mercy' which come out of Matthew's Gospel."
'I love having all the community support'
Foley said another Scout working towards his Eagle Scout rank built the pantry's original picnic tables, and yet another helped beautify the garden surrounding the tables by planting flowers and foliage.
Simon, an Edmond Memorial High School student, said he had never built tables before, but he reached out to the Eagle Scout who made the pantry's first tables to get instructions. He said he wanted the new tables to be just like their older counterparts.Simon said the project took him and his helpers about 13 hours. Those who helped included his father Scott Starnes, Dr. Bob Gaston, Nick Doherty; and with his fellow troop members, Maddux Greenfield, Justin Jacobi and William Patton.
Scott Starnes said he and his wife have known Sister BJ since they were in her youth group at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmond. He said he was proud of the project completed by his son and some of his friends in Troop 21, which is affiliated with St. John the Baptist church.
Foley said she was grateful for the support of Simon and Troop 21.
"All my support all these years have come from private donations, and then, help within the Oklahoma City community and church parishes," she said. "That, in itself, is a good feeling. I love having all of the community support."Read on The Oklahoman Page