Eagle Scout Launches Statewide Initiative to Give Foster Kids Hope and a Bag of Their Own

 When Hunter Beaton was 6 years old, his grandmother picked him up from baseball practice and took him home to meet his new brother, a cousin who was being placed with his family as a foster child. Just a baby, his new brother had nothing – no toys, no clothes, no stuffed animals. When a second foster brother came to live with them, all he brought was a trash bag holding his meager belongings. It was the same for his foster sister. To Hunter, the idea that his siblings were only worth a plastic garbage bag seemed unjust.

According to Comfort Cases, there are nearly 437,400 children in the foster care system on any given day in the United States. Most youth enter the foster care system carrying little more than the clothes on their back. While Hunter did not know these statics, while brainstorming his Eagle Scout service project in 2015 he remembered the sense of injustice he had felt for his siblings. With the support of his parents, Hunter used his Eagle Scout service project to make sure foster children felt valued by providing them “Day 1 Bags” – an idea that has grown into a statewide program with national partnerships.