Area waiting rooms restocked with kids' books

MOSES LAKE — Collecting one plastic sack of books at a time, Spencer Plate, 16, pounded the pavement to become an Eagle Scout.

He and other scouts recently hung 200 donated Lep-Re-Kon store sacks on the doors of Moses Lake homes.

Then residents filled the plastic bags full of children’s books for Spencer’s Eagle Scout project.

Spencer likely won’t know if his project is approved by scouting officials in Austin, Texas, until the end of the summer.

But he does know the community’s response was positive when the books were delivered.

“People were over the moon,” Spencer says. “They were excited. People at DSHS (state Department of Social and Health Services) were grateful for the books. A lot of kids go there and don’t have anything to do.”

The books, about 1,100 total, were also delivered to waiting rooms at Pioneer Medical Center, Moses Lake Community Health Center, North Columbia Community Action Council, Grant Mental Healthcare and the Columbia Basin Herald.

A variety of books for babies, toddlers and older children were among the items collected, he explained. Comic books were also donated.

About 400 magazines were collected, including one woman’s donation of nearly 300 National Geographic magazines.

“There was a wide range and I was really kind of grateful for that,” he commented.

The idea for Spencer’s project came about after Moses Lake Dr. Ryan Tolley expressed a need for the books.

Tolley works at the Moses Lake Community Health Center and also attends Spencer’s church.

Before the books were delivered, he stored them at the home of his parents, David and Lynnette Plate, whom he credited for their support.

Spencer said his dad was really involved from the beginning.

“He really pushed me to do well and my mom did as well,” Spencer says. “I’m really grateful for the help that they gave me and the drive that they gave me.”

Eagle Scout projects must help a community, a school or a religious organization and a scout cannot make any money from the effort, Spencer explained.

Other projects he’s heard of include building benches for parks and painting house numbers.

Spencer’s involvement with scouting started when he was about nine or 10-years-old, when he began the program as a Cub Scout.

Later, he recalled earning his first merit badge in Boy Scouts for wilderness survival. The scouts were given tarps, ropes and some personal items, he said.

All Spencer brought was a backpack, a blanket, five pounds of Gummy bears and a book for the overnight experience in Camp Meriwether, Ore.

At a Boy Scout camp in Delaware, he and his dad went on a canoeing trip where they went over rapids, capsized a few times and caught fish, Spencer recalled.

He said he loves the scouting program and will be a camp counselor this summer.

“There’s always something more to learn,” he says. “It’s just really exciting.”