Brad, right, and son Micah Johnson work on a deck for Likewise in East Knoxville.
Brad Johnson wasn’t an Eagle Scout himself, but he’s helped three sons hatch their service projects.
This spring, he and youngest son Micah have spent several weekends hammering out plans for, then building, Micah’s Eagle Scout project: a wooden deck in the back courtyard of East Knoxville’s Likewise coffeehouse that ultimately will serve as a small stage for community events.
Husband-wife team Will and Katie Boggs opened Likewise last year in a renovated 1910 house with dual goals: to provide jobs and a community gathering space in East Knoxville, where they live, and to help fund their 7-year-old nonprofit organization Raising A Voice, which provides support for women in situations where they are vulnerable or exploited and connects them with resources.
Will Boggs said the wooden deck was “on our wish list,” but funding had to go to more pressing needs. That’s why Boggs was thrilled to hear from Micah, 17, a rising a senior at Farragut High, who learned of the need through the Knoxville Fellows, a faith-based collegiate service organization.
Micah planned and executed the entire project, from developing plans and estimating costs to choosing materials and adapting the built project to include additional steps and a railing.
“Boy Scouts provides a nice experience with an exposure to civics, which you don’t necessarily get in school,” said Johnson, who was involved with scouting through grade school himself but wanted to ensure his sons experienced what the organization has to offer older children and teens. “I really like the outdoor skills aspect, too. And the Eagle Scout program is a valuable life lesson as far as project management. An Eagle scout project requires planning, administrative reviews and approvals, budgeting, working with other organizations, and leading others to complete a task bigger than you can do on your own. That experience is a great introduction to how the world works.”
Micah had seen older brothers Joel and Josiah complete their Eagle Scout service projects and was looking forward to starting his own.
“Having an impact is really nice,” he said. “It feels good to give back to the community. And I looked forward to having quality time with the family.”
Both Joel and Brad assisted Micah with the project, offering both guidance and manual labor. Brad, division director of Radioisotope Science and Technology Division, said the construction of a deck on the family home gave him an opportunity to help Micah hone his carpentry skills.
But the project itself gave him another opportunity to reinforce the importance of “being able to give to others and having an outward focus,” a value he hopes he’s instilled in all three sons and his daughter.
“This is an investment in society,” he said. “You’re helping make the community better.”
Excellence in Community Engagement — alongside Excellence in Science and Technology, and Excellence in Laboratory Operations and Environment, Safety, and Health — is one of the three strategic objectives in the Laboratory Agenda that identifies ORNL’s priorities.
Encouraging donations of both time and money — in any amount — is a crucial part of the Lab’s mission, said Wade Creswell, manager for Community Engagement.
“We want people to know, whatever amount you give is important,” Creswell said. “Whatever time you volunteer is important.”
In recent years, hoping to sustain a certain level of giving throughout the year, the Lab has shifted from highlighting a handful of organizations to helping employees promote and support nonprofits that are important to them.
“Everybody has their own nonprofits they like,” Creswell said.
Last year, through a labwide survey, employees chose 20 nonprofits to be added to the list of organizations that can be supported by direct payroll deductions. In June, the Lab kicked off ORNL Gives, a competition in which each directorate chooses organizations to support — and those, too, will be added to options for direct giving. In addition, the Lab will continue its program to match gifts from individual employees to qualifying nonprofits and will continue its ongoing Team UT-Battelle program to match employees with volunteering opportunities.
Boggs, himself an Eagle Scout, found Micah’s decision to bless Likewise with his service project especially meaningful. The stage will present new opportunities for the East Tennessee coffeehouse, which will soon serve a wider menu including deli sandwiches and small plates, to support not only its own community but become a destination for people from other parts of the city, he said.
The proceeds will further the work of Raising A Voice, which operates a day center currently used by 40 or so women and helps them procure identification, job skills and employment, basic needs like food and housing, transportation and, when needed, heath care and addiction recovery services. Boggs and wife Katie founded the organization while living overseas, and it also has centers in Kenya, Argentina and Rwanda.
Micah and his father found learning about the work of Raising A Voice eye-opening, and they also liked the idea of making a difference in a neighborhood that’s sometimes been overlooked.
“It seems important to try to bring light to a dark place,” Brad said, “or, at least, to try to enable those who dedicated to that mission.”
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
