Janicki, a senior at Catholic Central High School, put together a clothing drive for Purple Heart as his Eagle Scout project. "I organized our church, St. Paul's Presbyterian, to pass out flyers for the clothing drive and went to houses around the area," he said.
"Afterwards, we set up a drop box at the church and went around, picking up packages of clothing." Part of the reasoning behind the Eagle Scout project is community service, the other part is leadership training. He said the hardest part of putting the clothing drive together was getting everyone organized and on the same page.
In all, Janicki, the troop and members of the church collected 143 bags of clothing -- enough to fill a 5-foot by 9-foot trailer. Charles Schlaepfer is the scoutmaster of Troop 875. He said Janicki was a very close call.
"He turned 18 in November," he said. "But he technically earned his Eagle in October." By the rules of the Boy Scouts of America, scouting ends at age 18.
Schlaepfer said Janicki's Eagle Scout paperwork was misplaced by the Michigan council and as a result he didn't get his Eagle court of honor until January. Janicki is taking the basic adult training to be an assistant scout master for the troop. Schlaepfer said he has no doubts that he'll be an excellent leader even once he gets on the other side of the equation.
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