Hi, my name is Zackery. I am a boy scout with Troop 338 in Charlton, MA. Scouting has taught me a lot about camping, hiking, first aid, teamwork, leadership, and mostly it has taught me a lot about myself. I am currently working on the rank of Eagle Scout. This is the highest honor and rank a youth can achieve in Boy Scouts. One of the many requirements to earn the Eagle rank is to complete a service project of the scout’s choosing. For my project, I will be making comfort bags for teenagers entering foster care.

My goal is to put together at least 100 duffle bags full of items including a sweatshirt, sweatpants, underwear, socks, shampoo, bodywash, deodorant, lotion, a blanket, and a journal. It will cost about $60 a bag. The bags will be donated to the Department of Children and Families (DCF).

My mother has worked for DCF my whole life, so I grew up knowing about child abuse and neglect and about children in need. As I started thinking about what I wanted to do for my Eagle project, I knew I wanted to do something for the children in DCF care. As a teenager myself, I really wanted to target this age group because they are underserved and often overlooked.

At any given time in Massachusetts, there is 8,000 to 9,000 children in foster care. Of those, 35% are children between the ages of 12 and 17. Children entering foster care often come into care without any personal belongings, just the clothes they are currently wearing. These bags will help DCF provide for older children entering care. DCF does receive donations but those donations are mostly for younger children. My hope is that this project will not only be beneficial to the local DCF office but also help the teens themselves. This will hopefully make them a little more comfortable as they enter into the foster care system.

Thank you for considering a donation to my project. I will be writing a inspirational message in the journals that are in each bag. Please message me if you are interested in sponsoring a bag and having the message written with your name on it.