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Watauga teen honors veterans service, overcomes obstacles to earn Eagle Scout rank

More than two months of planning for Jacob Redford came down to a little less than two hours of executing his project on Sunday.

More than two months of planning for Jacob Redford came down to a little less than two hours of executing his project on Sunday.

The 17-year old gathered more 9000 donated items and worked with volunteers to create more than 100 backpacks filled with items for homeless veterans in Tarrant County.

The project is part of Redford's goal of achieving the rank of Eagle Scout.

“I’m doing this because of what those veterans have done for this country," Redford said. "I wanted to go out and fight for my country the same as every veteran in our country has done.

But that is one goal Redford will not meet.

The Birdville High School senior was born without the billions of nerves that connect the right and left hemispheres of his brain.

The cognitive disability means he will never be able to join any branch of the armed forces.

So Redford is serving now.

On Sunday, he helped organize a team of volunteers, including a police and motorcycle escort from the American Legion Post 379 in Bedford to the Patriot House, an outreach shelter for homeless veterans, in Fort Worth.

The entire endeavor was coordinated by Redford, with his mother Shelli watching closely.

"When he was born doctors told us they didn't know how long he would live and to be thankful for everyday," Shelli Davis-Redford said. "We’ve just raised him to believe in himself – and you can do anything you set your mind to – there’s no limits.”

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