LEWISTON – Seven months after fires ravaged the Greek countryside – killing 67 people and scorching almost half a million acres – a teenager from Lewiston is joining the recovery effort.

The Boy Scout’s aim: To ship food, clothes and toys to the village of Skala, near Sparta.

Raymond Goulet, 17, convinced a Boston-based shipping company to haul donations to Greece for free. He also worked with Skala’s thankful mayor, Ian Gripiotis, to pick up pallets of gifts.

Only one small detail is left: gathering the donations.

On Saturday, Goulet and a team of friends had planned to distribute fliers to 3,000 homes in Lewiston. On March 15, Goulet plans to lead an even larger team to make the collection.

“I wish I could go to Greece with the donations,” said Goulet, a Lewiston High School junior who hopes to earn his Eagle Scout badge from the effort. “Their recovery is going very, very slowly.”

The August 2007 fires were catastrophic.

The smoke was visible from space. Dozens of villages were razed. And when the fall rains came, mud slides further ravaged the landscape.

In many places, including Skala, homes burned alongside the olive groves where people earned their livelihood, Goulet said.

Lending a hand with the recovery seemed a natural for his Eagle Scout project.

Cousins in Greece – Ray’s mother, Jaye, is a Greek American – led him to Skala.

“Pretty much their whole village burned down,” Ray said. “They need help.”

Since the fall, Ray has been working out the details of his project, from creating maps of the city for his collection teams to delegating portions of the work to others.

His mother, for instance, worked out the deal with the Boston-area shipper. The Sun Journal confirmed the shipping company’s offer. However, a spokeswoman requested that the company’s identity remain a secret.

Ray is grateful for the help, he said. “It would have cost a lot. I’m glad I didn’t have to find out how much.”

The offer gave him freedom to collect some goods that might otherwise be left out, such as toys.

For the kids, they can be as powerful as new clothes or a big dinner, he said. But they are an inexpensive luxury that is often forgotten when lists of aid are accumulated.

Perhaps Ray’s age – just a few years removed from his toy box – gave him some added empathy.

Or maybe, like a good Scout, he is merely prepared.