Teen’s Eagle Scout project created 515 pillows for women who underwent mastectomies

  • Published
  • By Jennifer Brugman
  • 60th AMW Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The 16-year-old son of a Travis Airman spent seven months hunting down material and getting volunteers together in order to create 515 comfort pillows for women to use after mastectomies. 

He also learned to sew. 

David Young, son of Master Sgt. Ron Young, 573rd Global Support Squadron, needed an idea for an Eagle Scout Project. 

After searching the Web for an appropriate project, he discovered that the American Cancer Society was looking for volunteers to create ‘comfort pillows,’ small pillows women use after mastectomies to make lying down or using seatbelts more comfortable. 

“I thought I could help those who have cancer,” David Young said. His cousin and a family friend are fighting the disease. 

Young started the project in November 2005. He began soliciting help and materials. Without a tax identification number, David had difficulty getting donations from businesses; therefore, much of the fabric came from individuals. 

He asked some of the women from his mother’s church to bring their sewing skills to the table. David supervised, organized and even sewed a couple pillows on his own.
David also organized a youth night where he and his friends got together and stuffed pillows. 

It takes 20 minutes to make a pillow from start to finish, depending on how good you are at sewing, according to Donna, David’s mother. 

“We got a lot of cooperation.” 

He has given 20 pillows to David Grant USAF Medical Center and the rest have gone to the American Cancer Society headquarters in San Francisco to be distributed throughout the Bay Area. 

He hasn’t gotten a chance to talk to someone who has used the pillows yet. Although, he would like to know first-hand that his project has helped someone. 

David still has about 200 pillows to deliver. 

“If I had the opportunity to help someone do a similar kind of project, I would,” David said. “But I probably won’t do 500 again.”