LUNENBURG — In third grade, Jack Meilleur went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Like most, he wore a heavy winter coat.
There he saw a boy who appeared to be the same age as him. The boy was asleep, with only a piece of cardboard, jeans and a ripped sweatshirt between him and the cold ground.
Meilleur, now 18 and whose father was raised in foster care, said he reached in his pocket and gave the teen the money he was given to spend that week — $20. For the next several years, Meilleur gathered donations to purchase new clothing for children at Fitchburg’s LUK Crisis Center.
“Every kid deserves a fair shot, because you don’t choose what world you’re born into,” he said recently.
The 18-year-old recently spoke about this at the Lunenburg Boys & Girls Club, where he works this summer before moving to the Bronx borough in New York City to study at Manhattan College.
It will be an education financed with help from the $20,000 Kraft Family scholarship, an award presented to one Project 351 alumni annually, said Jack’s mother, Anne Meilleur.
New England Patriots President Josh Kraft announced to those there for Project 351’s May reunion at Gillette Stadium that Jack Meilleur won the scholarship. Kraft is also the president of the Patriots Charitable Foundation and president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Boston.
Before revealing the winner’s name, Kraft hinted that the person has for several years collected donations outside Lunenburg’s Dippin’ Donuts, his mother said.
That was Jack Meilleur’s go-to spot to fundraise. Before long, it became clear whom Kraft was referring to.
“Once I heard I my name, I don’t remember what he said,” Jack said, grinning widely.
His mother, Anne Meilleur, stepped in.
“It was a very humbling experience, and very deserved,” his mother said. “Being a teenager isn’t easy. Just doing the day-to- day stuff and to take time out of your week to help others is very selfless.”
Meilleur was nominated by a teacher to serve as Lunenburg’s Project 351 ambassador when he reached eighth grade years ago.
One eighth-grader from each of the state’s cities and towns served as a Project 351 ambassador annually. The nonprofit is a youth services organization overseen by the governor that aims to develop community leaders.
Meilleur, who graduated in June from Nashoba Regional High School, continued to participate in food and clothing drives for four more years as a Project 351 alumni.
He described himself as “a leader of young leaders” who tried to instill in them a lesson he learned fundraising for the local food pantry and other area organizations.
“Don’t give up, and never, never take no for an answer,” he said.
