More than 150 needy and homebound families celebrated Easter this year with full bellies and packed refrigerators, thanks to the work of a Westport Scout working to earn his Eagle badge.

Neil Walker, a scout in Westport's Troop 3, spent months organizing his Easter dinner food drive, and the work culminated in the delivery of approximately 150 dinners to the Good Neighbors food pantry in East Providence a few days before the holiday. His uncle, chef Adam Batchelder, served as his project guide and coach.

Neil, a sophomore at Westport High School who is active in tennis and the drama club, decided some time ago to focus his Eagle Scout project on feeding the homebound. His father Bill, a chef, is an instructor at East Providence Career and Technical Center and for years has worked with the pastor of a Providence church to provide food and services to the homeless, those with addictions, and other issues.

"Neil's been working with me doing that since he was like three years old," his father said. "He was trying to figure out what he wanted to do for his (Eagle) project ... clean the beach, help the library, etc ... last year we were doing some work for the soup kitchen in East Providence and Neil helped. We started talking about doing something similar for the Eagle project, and that seemed like a really good idea."

When it became clear that that's what Neil would do, Neil secured the services of his uncle, chef Adam Batchelder, and the Walkers reached out to area contacts, receiving a promise from the pastor of an Attleboro church to donate turkeys, potatoes, bread, vegetables and deserts to the cause. Other donations came in for stuffing and other supplies, and on the Sunday before Easter, Neil and about 15 to 20 volunteers met at East Providence High School to start preparing the meals. They were delivered to the pantry on Thursday, April 6.