LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — A local Boy Scout is looking to make the jump to scouting’s highest honors with a school supply drive for needy Haitian children.

Caden Ardoin, 17, of Lafayette, is a member of Boy Scout Troop 162. As part of earning his Eagle Scout rank, he is working on collecting supplies for Respire Haiti, a Lafayette-based non-profit that provides educational and health care services in Gressier, Haiti. 

Many of the children to be helped are known as “restaveks,” or a child who is sent by their parents to work for a host family as a domestic servant because the parents cannot support the children. Some people refer to the restavek system as child slavery, and many of the children Ardoin is seeking to help have come from those backgrounds.

Ardoin and Respire Haiti have several collection boxes around Lafayette for donors to leave their supplies, as seen in the flyer below.