Clayton Scout, a Northmont senior, rounds up school supplies for needy children

Dayton Mall shoe store moving
Updated 13 min. ago
Cracker Barrel manager accused of embezzling $2K
3:38 p.m.
Is your “unlimited” data being throttled?
2:32 p.m.
Kasich wants 100 gigabits per second state network, smarter smartphones
2:07 p.m.
Benefit dinner held for girl who died in car accident
2:00 p.m.
> More headlines

By Lynn Minneman, Staff Writer 12:00 PM Thursday, October 29, 2009

Remember when you were in elementary school and it was a really big deal to have a nice set of crayons, and how many and what color crayons your mother bought was important?

But sometimes these small luxuries just aren’t a priority when more important expenditures fill the family budget.

But, 17-year-old Ben Deptula of Clayton, who is working toward earning the rank of Eagle Scout, has been striving during the past month to make sure that more children get the opportunity to get excited about having new school supplies.

“We collected bags from over 300 households on Saturday, Oct. 17,” he said.

“I think the project went extremely well — I was not expecting the outcome that we had,” said Deptula, a senior at Northmont High School, a member of the marching band, and a Northmont Science Olympiad participant.

Cindy Deptula said she thought her son had learned a lot from the project.

“Ben has been in Scouting since he was in the first grade and is a member of Boy Scout Troop 246, which meets at Englewood United Methodist Church – so that is the area he chose to conduct his project.”

Deptula got the idea from his father, Dave, whose business office conducts a Community Impact Day and visits different organizations like Crayons to Classroom — a teacher resource center that assists teachers at schools where 70 percent or more of the students are at or below the poverty level. There are 81 of these schools in the Miami Valley.

As Deptula learned more about the organization, he thought it would be an appropriate venture for his project. He organized a school supplies drive for underprivileged children, which ended on Oct. 24.

Scouts delivered bags throughout the Englewood community on Oct. 10, asking residents to fill the bags with school supplies. The following week, Oct. 17, the Scouts returned to collect the bags.

“He is still collecting from anyone who he missed, or who wants to donate,” she said.

Along with the door-to-door collections, Deptula also placed collection barrels at four locations: Main Source Bank, Kleptz YMCA, Englewood United Methodist Church, and the Northmont Library/Englewood Government Center. Donations can be made through Oct. 31. “If residents didn’t receive bags or didn’t have theirs picked up, they can put them in the barrels,” Deptula said.

Those would like to make a monetary donation can send it to Crayons to Classrooms at 1511 Kuntz Road. The money will be used to purchase school supplies, which will be distributed to needy students.

For more information, contact Deptula at (937) 832-3328.

HEREABOUTS lynn minneman

Share this article