Our mission at Day 1 Bags is to provide brand new duffle bags and backpacks to foster youth instead of trash bags as luggage when being removed from their homes or moved from shelter to shelter.
What does Day 1 Bags mean?
The phrase is motivational and means the first day of a plan, a new life without the worries of abuse and/or neglect. Day 1 is a way for many to start planning on a new life, to accomplish what you want your life to be, and commit on Day 1 a life of hope, dignity, security, and love.
There’s no day like Valentine’s Day to make that someone special in your life know how you feel about them. Valentine’s Day can be a unique opportunity to let the foster youth know how much they are loved too.
At Day 1 Bags, we partner with the entire 10,000 enrolled students at Boerne ISD to deliver LOVE! We completed our 3rd annual #LoveDelivered Campaign where thousands of Valentine’s Cards, Fuzzy Socks, Candy, and Warm Blankets were donated by the students and distributed to local assisted living facilities and foster youth agencies. We want our lonely, forgotten, and isolated seniors and foster youth to know that we LOVE them – every day!
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
- Create your own handmade Valentine’s Card today.
- Shop our Amazon Wishlist for Fuzzy Socks or Blankets
- Purchase a therapy bear
- Mail your completed Valentine’s Cards to
Day 1 Bags, c/o Hunter Beaton, 118 Lake Front Dr, Boerne, TX 78006
The A Serenity Activity Pack campaign is our thoughtful and considerate desire of making every encounter with the men and women that keep us safe in law enforcement to be comforting, safe, and caring for all children. Many of the youth we have helped in the past have mentioned to us that their experiences with law enforcement have been negative because they are often dealing with traumatic events like domestic violence issues, or removal of custody.
Therefore, they often attribute bad thoughts and feelings toward law enforcement. We want to change that stigma. The A Serenity Activity Pack (ASAP) Initiative was designed to give various law enforcement a bag filled with necessary supplies like fidget spinners, plush toys, coloring books, and wipes for police to give to children while encountering a situation. Please consider visiting our Facebook page for more images and details:
HOW YOU CAN HELP?
- Shop at our Amazon wishlist for items
- Purchase a therapy bear here
- Contact us for your own law enforcement officers to receive ASAP bags ([email protected])
Our annual Adopt a High School Senior from Foster Care Campaign is one of the most ambitious and necessary initiatives we run at Day 1 Bags.
We are dedicated to finding and supplying every single foster child that is graduating from high school with a high-quality duffle bag, rolling backpack, hand-stitched quilt, stainless steel water bottle, a $100 gift card, and so many more gifts.
Foster youth are significantly less likely to graduate high school and finish out their education based on individuals that have the care of one or two parents. In fact, less than 50% of all foster youth graduate with a high school diploma. Even then, those that do end up graduating are not given the proper celebrations and gifts that they deserve. Many haven’t the family or community to celebrate their accomplishments.
This simple fact is preciously why we have created the Adopt a Senior Campaign. With your help, we can ensure that every senior in Texas (or your current state) has their foster seniors graduating with the necessary supplies that will help them in their future college, trade, or career. Please visit the link below to visit our information Facebook page.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
- Follow our Facebook to see how you can help.
- Purchase items on our Amazon Wishlist
- Do You Sew?
Do you need backpacks or duffel bags for the foster youth that you are serving?
All Day 1 duffel bags (small and large) and backpacks are FREE to non-profits, churches, social groups, and school groups that are serving foster children, foster teens, and aged-out foster youth. Not only that, these bags have the best quality anyone could ever have with a full lifetime warranty.
If you really like your old bag and would like to try and save it, we will do everything we can to get it back into shape. The Day 1 Bag products are guaranteed 100% against any defects in workmanship or materials for the life of the product, under normal use. Defective products will be repaired or replaced.
Click here to order your Day 1 Bag.
Free.
As part of our Adopt a Senior Campaign, Day 1 Bags gives out special gifts such as Handmade quilts, zipper pouches, and utility totes. – We were surprised to have thousands of volunteers to help make personalized gifts for last year’s senior class. If you want to participate or make a gift, check out the links below
- Can you make a quilt for the upcoming graduates from foster care? Click here to sign up.
- Would you like to make a zipper pouch for the upcoming high school graduates from foster care? Click here to sign up.
- Would you like to make a utility tote for the upcoming high school graduates from foster care? Click here to sign up.
- If you are unable to sew but can help in other ways such as long arm quilting services, transporting quilts, volunteering at graduation parties, or photograpy services, please email us.
Click here for in-kind donations.