Adam Keys, an injured veteran of the war in Afghanistan, said the sort of support he received Saturday from nonprofit groups and Boy Scouts helps him maintain a positive outlook on life.

“I was injured and sometimes when you're sitting there by yourself, ... you're sort of thinking, ‘What's going to happen next?'?” said Keys, who enlisted in the Army in 2008.

On Saturday, Keys joked and laughed with airmen from Joint Base Andrews who assembled tools, power equipment and shelving in the three-car garage of the veteran's home just outside Annapolis.

The home was built to be accessible for Keys, left a triple amputee after he stepped on an improvised explosive device while deployed in Zabul Province in Afghanistan in 2010. The house was donated to him over the summer by organizations that provide smart homes for wounded veterans.

Keys was a paratrooper assigned to the 27th Engineer Battalion, 20th Engineer Brigade in Fort Bragg, N.C.

After returning to the U.S. from Afghanistan he spent five years and 13 days in the hospital, undergoing more than 130 surgeries. He lost his left forearm and both legs below the knee.

“After a few months at the hospital, you kind of say, ‘Man, my career just ended essentially, what am I going to do next?' and some great organizations like Wounded Warriors, Patriots Honor Organization and these young scouts come help out in the yard — they are my saviors,” Keys said, while surrounded by volunteers, friends and family members who gathered in the garage and front yard of his home.

Ryan Ostrowski, 15, of Stevensville, said he always wanted to do something to help a veteran, which is why he cleaned debris from Keys' yard to make it a safe outdoor space he can enjoy.

Ryan contacted Warrior Events, an Annapolis-based nonprofit that helps wounded veterans and their families, and it connected him with Keys, he said.

He and other members of Boy Scout Troop 278 from Kent Island worked to clear and level the ground of Keys' yard Saturday. They said they'll continue working on the project on weekends for the next month.

Ryan is “doing a great job as a young 15-year-old,” said Keys, a Cub Scout before moving from the Canadian province of Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania. “He's going for Eagle Scout and I think he should get it.”

Ryan's mother, Karen Ostrowski, said she was proud of her son, who has “a lot of respect for soldiers and what they've sacrificed” and was adamant about volunteering to do something to help a veteran.

“I feel like Adam is having such a positive influence on our boys,” Ostrowski said. “I don't know anybody who's so positive.”

Airmen from Joint Base Andrews, who volunteered through Patriots Honor, a California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering wounded veterans, assembled about $9,000 worth of donated power tools, roller cabinets and other equipment Keys can use to build radio-controlled models in his garage, said Dana Lineback, a member of the organization.

He was also presented with a $1,000 gift certificate to an online remote-control model company, Lineback said.

Members of the organization met Keys in Northern California, where his sister Courtney Hvostal lives. Hvostal organizes the Wounded Veteran Run, a fundraising event.

“He has a spirit of resiliency that we can all admire, and really the focus is empowering him,” Lineback said.

Keys said that while he can't do everything the volunteers can do, he's still able to help by spreading the word to other injured war veterans.

“All I can do is pay it forward and try to spread the word that there are people out there who do care, so service members know there is support out there,” he said.