During this time of giving thanks, I’m thankful for Nicholas Cobb, an Eagle Scout whose efforts are bringing warmth to homeless families.
In 2009, Cobb started his own nonprofit corporation, Comfort and Joy, to provide coats to families in need. That spawned an Eagle Scout project where he raised enough money to supply 129 families in North Texas with coats.
He could’ve stopped there. But it turns out Cobb was just getting started.
As of 2015, Cobb has raised more than $40,000 through Comfort and Joy to help people who are less fortunate. And though he started with a focus on coats and has now donated more than 700 of them, Comfort and Joy has become more than just jackets.
As he told Like a Boss Girls, the nonprofit has “built a healthy eating garden at a children’s shelter, rehabbed the home of a senior citizen, given book scholarships and supported the feeding charity United Friends to Feed the Homeless.”
Basically, this Eagle Scout goes wherever the need is greatest. And he’s getting noticed for doing so.
Cobb, now a second-year computer science student at the University of Texas at Austin, won The Root’s Young Futurist Award and a Nickelodeon HALO Effect Award.
That’s HALO: Helping And Leading Others, and the award came with a trip to New York City and a $5,000 donation to Comfort and Joy. That means Cobb’s joy will spread even further — beyond North Texas and across the country.
“I want to expand Comfort and Joy nationwide and have chapters in every major city,” he told Like a Boss Girls. “I want other young people to experience the feeling of giving back to the community.”
And how does giving back feel to Cobb?
“One of the most fulfilling moments was when a woman at one of the shelters I volunteered at told me in tears that she was so moved that when she was back up on her feet that she wanted to do something to help other people, too,” he told Teen Nick. “It was a good feeling to feel like you inspired someone to sort of pay it forward.”
Another heartwarming story that started — as these often do — in Scouting.
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