PHOTO PROVIDED Eric Burns’ Eagle Scout leadership project was held at the Pleasant Gap United Methodist Church where he led the renovation of the food bank room. Eric’s project involved removing old carpeting and wallpaper, and then painting the walls and laying down new laminate flooring. Eric then directed the restocking of foods onto the shelves.

PHOTO PROVIDED
Eric Burns,15, of Pleasant Gap, was awarded his Eagle Scout rank at a Court of Honor on July 12, 2025. Eric is a member of Scouts BSA Troop 66 in Pleasant Gap and became the troop’s 78th Eagle Scout.

PLEASANT GAP — Eric Burns,15, of Pleasant Gap, was awarded his Eagle Scout rank at a Court of Honor on July 12, 2025. Eric is a member of Scouts BSA Troop 66 in Pleasant Gap and became the troop’s 78th Eagle Scout. He serves as Second Vice Chief in the Order of the Arrow Monaken Lodge 103.

Eric earned 67 merit badges so far in his scouting career. This is 46 badges beyond the required 21 for the Eagle rank.

Eric earned many of the badges during the Covid pandemic when merit badge classes were held online with the scout’s work submitted electronically.

Eric was able to take part in many classes and learned a lot while staying active with the troop until they could resume meeting in-person again. He was also awarded three silver Palms for his efforts.

Eric’s Eagle Scout Service leadership project was held at the Pleasant Gap United Methodist Church where he led the renovation of the food bank room.

Pat Benford was his liaison at the church food bank, along with other helpful volunteers. Eric’s project involved removing old carpeting and wallpaper, and then painting the walls and laying down new laminate flooring.

Eric then directed the restocking of foods onto the shelves.

The church members and food bank workers are extremely pleased with the finished project. The food bank volunteers were very thankful for his leadership throughout the project and they were grateful to the other scouts and leaders in the troop who spent time working on the project at the church last fall.

Eric along with other scouts will also be “Scouting for Food” — going door to door to collect non-perishable food items to restock the supply and fill the shelves at the church food bank for the months ahead. Scouting for Food is planned for the last weekend in October.

During his years in scouting, Eric has attended multiple summer camps with his troop at Seven Mountains Scout Camp, Camp Conestoga in Somerset County and Camp Karoondinha in Union County. The troop trips to the Philadelphia Phillies baseball game and going to the Smithsonian Constitution Center in Philadelphia are only a few highlights of his scouting career.

Although Eric has already achieved the Eagle rank, he continues to remain active in scouting. He is looking forward to going to the Philmont Scout Reservation in New Mexico next summer. Outside of Scouting, Eric is beginning his sophomore year at Bellefonte Area High School and is an honor roll student. He is also a member of the concert band and the Track and Field team.

Eric is the son of Marc and Stacey Burns, of Pleasant Gap, Pa.