For this determined teen the numbers finally add up as he strives to become an Eagle Scout despite having Cerebral Palsy and being a quadriplegic!

Waukesha - The numbers have never worked out right for Garrett Becker.

He was born four months early. His chance of living six months: 20%. Diagnosed at age 1 with cerebral palsy.

But he blew past the numbers and now, at age 19, you might say he has a number of things going against him.

"He's a quadriplegic. He's a little bit cognitively delayed," said his father, Dennis Becker, who stopped to think a moment and added: "He's legally blind without his glasses."

All of that is true, but it also is true that Garrett Becker knows what he wants, and what he wants is to become an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Boy Scouts.

Until recently he was four merit badges and one community service project away from that. He's working on those badges, but wouldn't you know it, the numbers didn't work out on the service project he chose - collecting 200 pieces of clothing for the Hope Center in Waukesha, which works to prevent homelessness.

On Thursday afternoon, Garrett Becker delivered. Not 200 pieces of clothing. He delivered 2,700 pieces - wool coats, sweaters, socks, mittens, hats, more coats - packed up in plastic bags. They just kept coming. The executive director called the volunteer coordinator and asked for extra crews. And fast.

He doesn't know the number of extra workers. "All I told her is get people in here," said the director, Ralph Zick.

It is the largest donation from a single source, he said.

Garrett watched as the clothing came out, and out, and out of the family's wheelchair-equipped van and another van driven by his mother, Connie Schmidt-Becker, who came home one day from a school meeting with the idea that maybe Garrett might like scouting.

"My first thought was, 'I'm not so sure he can do it,' " Dennis Becker concedes.

After the unloading was over, Garrett was all smiles and satisfaction.

"I'm happy to get this done so I can go back to school tomorrow," he said.

A big part of being an Eagle Scout is demonstrating leadership, Dennis Becker noted, and he believes his son learned quite a bit about that.

Asked about the most important part about being a leader, Garrett said without hesitation, "To tell people what to do." And he did.

Garrett got the idea for the project from Scott Kleba, a counselor for Garrett's computer merit badge - one of the 21 badges he'll need to make Eagle Scout. Garrett had another service project planned. He was going to organize and plan the painting of a fence at a horseback riding place he frequented. But he received stunning news: the organization had shut down.

"At the time, they were kind of in shock," said Kleba, a leader for 16 years of Boy Scout Troop 64 in Elm Grove. "He even showed me the brochure he'd made up and printed out."

Kleba mentioned that his wife, Leslie, is president of the Hope Center board of directors.

Father and son listened.

Dennis Becker called him back a few days later about finding a project with the center.

The Klebas talked it over. Leslie Kleba knew the Hope Center could especially use winter coats. It would be some work, Scott Kleba said, but he figured Garrett could do it.

The way he did it has a lot to do with barrels that were set out and kept getting filled up. It called for a lot of driving, dropping off and picking up by Dennis Becker, and a lot of supervision from Garrett. That worked out just fine.

Collection barrels were set out at the couple's church, Divine Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hartland. "Most of the congregation has known him since before he was born," his father said, recalling the three weeks his wife spent in the hospital before Garrett's birth.

Another barrel was stationed at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Delafield, where his troop, Troop 20 of the Potawatomi Area Council, is based.

Twice a week, Dennis Becker checked the barrels at the churches. "And they were always full," he said. Barrels filled up at the office where he works, and at Kettle Moraine High School, where Garrett is a student.

The clothes piled up and the Beckers found a space to sort it all at Christ the King. . They enlisted help to organize and bag it up. "We sent out emails to people, and whoever showed up, showed up," Dennis Becker said.

So why is this so important to Garrett Becker? Ask him why he wants to be an Eagle Scout, and he has one answer: "Because my dad is." Dennis Becker has his Eagle Scout pin, given to him on Feb. 16, 1961, and the plan is to give it to Garrett when he becomes an Eagle Scout. They're hoping that happens at the end of April.

To get there, a number of exceptions have been made to some requirements for Garrett. He'll be able to get alternate badges, in computers and scouting heritage, in place of the personal fitness badge and the one for swimming, hiking or cycling. He's gotten an extension on the age requirement, too, so he can complete Eagle Scout requirements after his 18th birthday.

The community service task completed, father and son will keep working on those last badges. Sure, there were lessons of leadership with this project.

But the best part about Thursday, at least according to Garrett Becker, the kid born too early, was this:

"Being here to do it."