Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) — May 7, 2025 — A special needs Jonesboro Life Scout is working to earn the rank of Eagle Scout by hosting a toy drive benefitting Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis.
Seventeen-year-old Kevin Lewis has been a patient of the hospital for many years. He currently holds the rank of Life Scout in Troop 134 in Jonesboro, as part of Scouting America, formerly the Boy Scouts of America. Lewis’s mother, Autumn Breckenridge, said his scouting journey has been slightly different.
Lewis is mostly nonverbal with two rare neuronal migration disorders: congenital bilateral perisylvian syndrome and pachygyria. He also has autism and other medical conditions.
Now a junior at Jonesboro High School, Lewis has been with the troop since the second grade. However, if he wishes to earn Eagle Scout, he must complete the project by his eighteenth birthday on Aug. 4, Breckenridge said.
To become an Eagle Scout, the scout must earn a total of 21 merit badges, including the 14 required ones which cover topics such as first aid, citizenship and more. The remaining seven badges can be chosen from any of the 135+ badges available. Scouts must also complete a community service project.
According to Breckenridge, Lewis chose this project because he wanted to give back to Le Bonheur, which has provided Lewis with life-sustaining care over the last 12 to 13 years.
As for the service project, Breckenridge said that it has to get approved on a district level to make sure it is a legitimate project that benefits the community. While the candidate chooses and plans out their own project, it’s meant to get the whole troop involved.
“We came up with about 10 different ideas. We thought about places that impact him and a few projects that might benefit them,” she said. “He goes to Jonesboro High School and he’s in a self-contained classroom, so we talked about a few projects that might benefit the class or maybe the special education department in general. Then we talked about Le Bonheur and he was like, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ So, he wanted to do a toy drive for Le Bonheur.”
Over the last 12 or 13 years, Breckenridge said Lewis has seen, and still sees, different specialists on a regular basis. He has undergone countless surgeries, emergency room visits, and hospitalizations with multiple occasions resulting in lengthy stays.
“We’ve spent a lot of time there and he has been the recipient of donations,” Breckenridge said. “As a mother I have witnessed firsthand how donations have made a positive impact on my child.”
“Before they go to surgery, the kids go down Bunny Lane, which is an area of the hospital with a hallway that is full of cabinets of toys,” Breckenridge continued. “They try to have a good range of things for babies all the way up to teenagers, and the children get to pick anything they want out of these cabinets. Then, this thing gets to follow them all the way. They can take it into the operating room if they want to.”
So far, she said they have gone about the toy drive in multiple ways, which includes sending letters to local and state representatives and local businesses, creating an Amazon Wishlist to make dominating easier, and setting up drop-off locations.
All donations will be collected for delivery to Le Bonheur. Donation sites include:
- Le Bonheur Outpatient Clinic of Jonesboro, located at 800 S. Church St., Suite 104 in Jonesboro.
- The drop-off hours are Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.
- Pasmore Printing and Promotional Products, located at 2900 E. Matthews Ave. in Jonesboro.
- The drop-off hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
- Nix Title Company, located at 1825 Grant Ave. in Jonesboro.
- The drop-off hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
- Johnson Real Estate Group, located at 1000 S. Caraway Road, Suite 101 in Jonesboro.
- The drop-off hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
- Arkansas Center for Independence, located at 200 Ray St. in Newport.
- The drop-off hours are Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
- Cowlicks, located at 324 E. Main Street in Walnut Ridge.
- The drop-offs will be accepted Tuesday through Saturday and can be left on porch during closed hours on these days.
Toys can be dropped off through May 30.
A donation location map is below.
They have also created flyers with QR codes for the wishlist and the top ten needs, such as light-up and musical toys, Lego, rattles and teethers, gift cards, multi-ethnic dolls, Barbies, action figures, games, art supplies and craft kits, Play-Doh, coloring books, and teen items.
Because Lewis is mostly nonverbal, Breckenridge said they chose to do the letters to provide him with a way to explain what the project was and why he was seeking new, unused donations, as well as to provide the Wishlist to potential donors. The letter also letter contained a link to the Le Bonheur Facts and Statistics, information about Bunny Lane, and the hospital’s in-kind donations pages.
Breckenridge added they are working to set up toy drives in front of local Walmart stores, however they are still waiting on the proper paperwork.
Monetary donations can be mailed to 515 CR 713, Jonesboro, AR 72401. The troop will use all monetary donations will go to buys more toys. Checks can be made payable to “Troop 134” with “Kevin’s Eagle Project” on the memo line.