Saugus scout donates books for Life

SAUGUS – A Saugus teenager is turning the page on his Life Scout Project for Boy Scouts of America after he collected and donated over 700 books to children’s hospitals in Boston.William Mironchuk of Troop 62, which is sponsored by the Cliftondale Congregational Church, set up a collection box at Veterans Memorial High School on April 12.His original goal was to collect 200 books for the outpatient waiting room at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children. He proudly surpassed his goal, collecting enough books to donate to multiple hospitals.”We had a personal donation of about 175 books but most donations came through the bin,” said his father, Greg Mironchuk.In addition to the 200 books he donated to Mass General, over 500 books were divided between other hospitals including Tufts Floating Hospital for Children and Boston Children’s Hospital.”We were hoping to crack the 200,” said Mironchuk. “We were absolutely stunned and amazed with how many we actually collected.””We figured out that a lot of people have children’s books,” he said. “They don’t want to just throw them away, they want to do something with them. They were able to do something that did some good.”The Life Scout project requires six hours of community service, Mironchuk said. Once the books were collected, William’s troop stepped in to help with sorting, organizing and distributing the books. The process took a few months, he said.”We started donating them in May,” he said. “It was quite the process. We had to separate them, store them, distribute them.”The final donation of 350 books was made to Boston Children’s Hospital at the end of July.The books were received by Rebecca Shaw, the coordinator of the Reach Out and Read program at Boston Children’s Hospital, which works to provide books to children who are at an increased rate of having problems learning to read. At each check-up, children between 6-months and 5-years-old are given a book by their primary care provider.William Mironchuk has been involved with Boy Scouts for over 11 years, said his father. This donation marked the end of his Life Scout Project. Next, he hopes to pursue his Eagle Scout ranking.”He wants to be an Eagle Scout,” said Mironchuk. “He’s very motivated and he has a lot of good help. His Eagle councilor is actually his uncle, Rich Campbell, who is an Eagle Scout himself. He’s a good motivator.”Being involved with Boy Scouts is something that William really enjoys, Mironchuk said. “He’s really dedicated to it. It’s part of his identity.”His Eagle project will come next year,” he said. “We’re not sure what that looks like yet.”Though he clearly has a knack for philanthropy, his passion is really for science, his father said.”He’s very into physical science,” he said. “We’re hoping he will go to a science or engineering school in a few years.””I’m really proud of him,” Mironchuk said. “I’m proud of him everyday. He’s my best friend and I’m so fortunate to have him in my family.”