On My Honor, I will do my Best, to do my duty to God and my Country, to Obey the Scout Law, to Help Other People at All Times, to Keep Myself, Physically Strong, Mentally Awake, and Morally Straight.

God, Country, Community, Self. These are the defining principles of the Scout Oath in the Boy Scouts of America and the moral guidance of our program. BSA Troop 759 is located in the Olde Towne East Neighborhood of Columbus Ohio and my proposal is to build a community kitchen at Blackburn Recreation and Community Center to help transform our neighborhood into a community.

Why this Project?

neigh·bor·hood /naber,hood/

noun

a district, especially one forming a community within a town or city.

com·mu·ni·ty /ke myoonede /

noun

a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals

Olde Towne East is a gentrifying neighborhood on the Near East side of Columbus, Ohio.  I was born in Olde Towne East in 2002 and have lived here all of my life.  Since moving to the neighborhood, our family has noticed the changes in population, an increase in places to eat and socialize and more people out and about communing with one another.  But that is North of Main Street.  South of Main Street, a virtually different world exists where people have lower incomes, older homes, are food insecure and there is higher crime and violence.  Both sides fall in the territory that is Olde Towne East.  In the heart of the neighborhood sits Blackburn Recreation & Community Center.  Our charter sponsor is the City of Columbus, Division of Parks & Recreation.  The units have been located here to provide access to Scouting for all walks of life regardless of affluence, religion or ethnicity.  Scouting provides opportunities for youth to become strong community leaders, earn scholarships for high school and to have a better life part of the American Dream.  The concept for the Community Kitchen I found in a southwest Airlines magazine a few years ago when flying home from vacation.  In the Upper Midwest, these community ovens are more common where people come together and break (and bak) bread and share in their heritage.  To turn a neighborhood like Olde Towne East into a better community, my project is to provide a space where neighbors can come together, celebrate and build a stronger community.  A place where everyone can live, everyone can succeed and everyone can raise families together in prosperity.