Torrance resident Harrison Fyfe recently earned his Eagle Scout badge, and the work he did to get it will benefit people who are impacted by cancer — including his own family.
Fyfe, a senior at Mira Costa High School, in Manhattan Beach, has experienced three family members go through cancer journeys. His father survived testicular cancer, the 18-year-old said, and both his aunt and uncle are living with bone cancer and another type of carcinoma, respectively.
So to give back through his Eagle Scout service project, Fyfe built shelving space for the Cancer Support Community South Bay’s welcome center, a storage furnishing that officials at the nonprofit say has been needed for a long time. The Cancer Support Community South Bay, in Torrance, offers free support groups, counseling and other resources for people with cancer and their families.
Fellow Boy Scouts help Harrison Fyfe construct his Eagle Scout project. Torrance resident Harrison Fyfe, 18, recently completed his Eagle Scout project in August 2026 by building needed shelving space at the Cancer Support Community South Bay. (Photo from the Fyfe family)
Fellow Boy Scouts help Harrison Fyfe construct his Eagle Scout project. Torrance resident Harrison Fyfe, 18, recently completed his Eagle Scout project in August 2026 by building needed shelving space at the Cancer Support Community South Bay. (Photo from the Fyfe family)
Fellow Boy Scouts help Harrison Fyfe construct his Eagle Scout project. Torrance resident Harrison Fyfe, 18, recently completed his Eagle Scout project in August 2026 by building needed shelving space at the Cancer Support Community South Bay. (Photo from the Fyfe family)
Local Eagle Scout Harrison Fyfe poses with his parents at the Cancer Support Community South Bay. Torrance resident Harrison Fyfe, 18, recently completed his Eagle Scout project in August 2026 by building needed shelving space at the Cancer Support Community South Bay. (Photo from the Fyfe family)
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Fellow Boy Scouts help Harrison Fyfe construct his Eagle Scout project. Torrance resident Harrison Fyfe, 18, recently completed his Eagle Scout project in August 2026 by building needed shelving space at the Cancer Support Community South Bay. (Photo from the Fyfe family)
“Cancer has always been prevalent in my life,” said Fyfe, a member of Boy Scout Troop 218 in Torrance. “I always felt I had a responsibility to help others who were going through the same things as me.”
When researching for the project, Fyfe said, he wanted to find a place in the community that he could give back to with that goal in mind.
When he learned about the Cancer Support Community South Bay, he knew it was the one.
“It checked all the boxes,” Fyfe said. “I knew it was the place I wanted to work with.”
The mobile shelf units Fyfe and his Scout team built can be wheeled to different spaces inside the facility, displaying books and information about resources for CSCSB participants.
“We wanted shelving to display the books and service offerings to make it easily accessible in a centrally located area with lots of foot traffic, said CSCSB Executive Director and CEO Jillian Van Leuven.
The biggest barrier to getting the displays themselves sooner, Van Leuven said, was the special sizing required to maneuver through different rooms in the facility.
“We looked for a long time, but couldn’t land on anything,” Van Leuven said. “We knew it needed to be created; if it was something we could’ve purchased, we would’ve already done it.”
Fyfe’s service project, though, saved the Cancer Support Community “a tremendous amount of resources,” the organization’s leader said. But more than that, he was intentional about creating something for a cause close to his heart.
“He was really attentive to what our needs were and what the overall outcome would be,” Van Leuven added. “He was very mindful of what we needed.”
And it’s doing what it was meant to.
In the past week alone, Van Leuven said, more people have been gathering in the facility’s welcome area, talking to each other about what they’re reading in the books and information pamphlets that are now more easily accessible on the shelves.
It helped to further drive the concept of community, Van Leuven said.
Fyfe already had carpentry skills under his belt, he said, having done construction projects with his fellow Scouts throughout the years that taught him to work with wood, cement and other materials to create lasting structures. But during this project, he also learned to draw up his own designs and more about the planning phases of construction.
Planning for the project began in December, Fyfe said. It started with months of fundraising, measuring the space and other preparation. The build itself took about 10 hours over two days.
He and his father painted it later — and the units were ready to go in August.
Leadership and delegation were learning curves for Fyfe during the project, he said, as he had to manage Scout volunteer teams of up to 20 people with limited equipment, and keep everything on track under his guidance.
Fyfe also put together care packages for participants as a surprise, he said, which included comfort goodies like ginger candy, aromatherapy items and inspirational quotes.
Care packages benefit people throughout the whole CSCSB population, too, Van Leuven added, including participants’ families and children, or even patients’ care providers.
On top of the achievement of completing his Boy Scout career, Van Leuven said, he’s created something that will benefit people for years to come.
“He’s not just getting an Eagle Scout rank,” Van Leuven said. “He’s leaving his community in a better place. He’s leaving a mark.”
But he’s not stopping there, either.
Fyfe said he is joining the organization’s youth leadership council to continue his work with the Cancer Support Community. He’s also already volunteered at the Tour de Pier cancer fundraiser earlier this year in Manhattan Beach, representing CSCSB.
“I’m passionate about this,” Fyfe added, “and my family wants to keep supporting them too.”
A career in cancer research or medicine is also on the horizon for Fyfe, he said. He is in the biotechnology program at his high school, and participated in a biotech research camp focused on cancer immunology last year.
Fyfe said he hopes his family will also use the nonprofit as a resource now.
“I really wish we’d known about them sooner,” Fyfe said. “It’s something I wish we could’ve been a part of earlier in my life.”
But now that the Cancer Support Community is part of his life, he plans to keep it that way.