FRUITPORT, Mich-- Two life-long friends are teaming up and giving back to their community.
Last month, Xavier Oosterhart and Aaron Roup spearheaded a project to buy and build playground sheds for a Fruitport Elementary School to house toys for kids to play with. They also bought extra toys for the kids. The two teens spent a lot of time raising money from the community and it was all in an effort to obtain the rank of Eagle Scout.
They've been friends for a while now; building their friendship and mission from the ground up.
"All of the hard work that went into it finally paid off," Oosterhart said. "It taught me a lot about leadership skills and how it's okay to mess up."
Oosterhart and Roup are two of eight Eagle Scouts in Fruitport-- they reached the rank last month after completing their project.
The principal, Tom Hamilton, at Edgewood Elementary school was thrilled by the teens' efforts.
"I'm so impressed," Hamilton said. "I think about what we want the kids to emulate in elementary school, then we see teenagers putting others first and that's powerful for our little ones."
"It means a lot to me," Roup said. " A lot of bad stuff going on in the world I feel like everyone needs joy in their life now I can say hey I made a difference."
