Local Eagle Scout project aims to encourage reading

PERRYSBURG, Ohio (WTVG) - Philip Ravas is sharing his love of reading with fellow teens.

Ravas, 17, a member of Boy Scouts of America Troop 104 at St. Joseph Parish, in Maumee, is hoping his Eagle Scout project will inspire a whole new generation of readers.

“Not just drawing or cooking, but we also have making music or writing songs or becoming a writer,” said Ravas, while shuffling through books at his home in Perrysburg.

Ravas, who attends the Ohio Connections Academy, is working on earning his Eagle Scout badge, by collecting over 1,200 books that will be donated to two Boys and Girls Clubs in Toledo.

“When I learned that the teens at the boys’ and girls’ clubs of Toledo has fallen behind by two years or more due to either COVID or socioeconomic circumstance, I felt connected to them through reading,” Ravas said.

And that connection led him to set up book donation spots at several local churches. Ravas believes the how-to books will be the most useful for the teens.

“It’s teaching these teens very valuable skills that they can use in the future, most importantly, it’s allowing the teens to read and learn about what their potential interests, passion or even future career could be.”

Gerri Peters, Director of Programming at the Boys and Girls Club in Toledo says the book donation is wonderful and needed, but it also sets a positive example for the teens at the club.

“These books are coming into our clubs because another teen is donating them,” said Peters. “That sets an example for our members, one of our other formula of impacts is good character and good citizenship, and this actually falls underneath that scope of work.”

Ravas isn’t stopping with just the donation of the books, he also categorized each book and will be installing bookcases so the teens will have a proper library.

“There’s going to be three shelves at their main location at the Homer Hanham site and there will be two shelving units at their newest location the Schoenrock site,” said Ravas. “I’ve always had a personal passion for reading and what I wanted to do was to hopefully share that passion with these teens who haven’t always had this same access to the books that I’ve had.”

After high school, Ravas plans on attending college and studying bio-medical engineering.

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