James Eline Earns Eagle Scout Award

James Eline of Seekonk, a member of Boy Scout Troop 1 of Seekonk, recently completed his Eagle Scout Service Project. James organized several drives to collect new and used soccer gear to donate to the US Soccer Foundation's Passback Program.

The drives collected over 700 items, including 136 jerseys, 98 pairs of shorts, 47 soccer balls, 50 pairs of socks, 43 pairs of shin guards, 24 backpacks and 242 pairs of cleats. The drives were conducted at the soccer fields of Seekonk Youth Soccer and East Providence Youth Soccer during games last fall.

Since 2002, the US Soccer Foundation, through Passback, has collected and distributed over 940,000 pieces of equipment to schools, clubs and soccer organizations in the United States and throughout the world. The motto of Passback is "Share the equipment, share the game!" and their goal is to provide the equipment to kids who would not otherwise have the resources to play.

Thanks to the help of his fellow Scouts and the Seekonk Youth Soccer and East Providence Youth Soccer programs, James was able to ship 16 boxes of equipment to Passback.