Emily Landry (00:00)
Hello everyone, welcome to Whitley Penn Talks where we give you valuable insights to help you make confident, informed decisions and move your business forward. My name is Emily Landry, host of our WP CARES episode series and today we are joined by some special guests from our third highlighted Whitley Penn Philanthropic Fund recipient. For those who don’t know, the mission of our fund is to cultivate a legacy of generosity amongst Whitley Penn partners and employees for community impact.

We support local initiatives, empower underserved populations, and foster sustainable growth in our neighborhoods. Today I’m sitting down with Hunter Beaton, founder of Day One Bags and Alan Rich, partner at Whitley Penn. Thank you so much both of you for joining me today. Welcome to the podcast.

Alan Rich (00:56)
Thank you, Emily.

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (00:57)
Thank you so much, it’s really an honor to be here.

Emily Landry (01:00)
I’m so glad. The honor is all mine though, Hunter. Let me start with a question for you. Hunter, what inspired you to start Day One Bags and what personal experiences shaped your vision? You can tell us a little bit more about Day One Bags too as you get into it.

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (01:03)
Yeah, of course. Yeah, I started Day One Bags actually as a high schooler and it was an Eagle Scout project of mine. I was working to find a way to support my local community in central Texas. ⁓

It really also started from a younger age in the sense that my experience with the foster care system was rather young in the sense that my three now adopted siblings all came into our home to the foster care system. And something that ⁓ kind of I experienced with their journey into my family’s home was they were given trash bags when they’re moving into our home.

And when I saw this when I was really young, ⁓ 10, 11. I noticed this, it never really kind of clicked until when I got older and I was looking to do a project. I had recalled that this happened in my mind and I said, you know, I wonder if this is, you know, just a one-off instance. And it turns out, ⁓ you know, thousands of youth, ⁓ all across the nation are dealing with this situation where they’re given trash bag or nothing at all to transport their items. And so I started an Eagle Scout project, giving proper luggage to these foster youth, ⁓ as they’re transitioning into new homes or wherever they might be moving to. And we’ve really grown since and have taken off and I’d be happy to delve more into all the exciting things that we’re doing nowadays.

Emily Landry (02:43)
I can’t wait. That’s such a beautiful start. I didn’t realize it was an Eagle Scout project when Alan nominated you.

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (02:51)
Yeah, it was way back in the day and of course back in the day I thought, ⁓ Eagle Scout Project, I want to just do one and done. And then it turned out it grew and it was just a labor of love. anyway, it’s been really, really great.

Emily Landry (03:06)
That’s amazing. So, Allen, what inspired you to nominate Day One Bags and what’s your involvement with the organization?

Alan Rich (03:14)
So ⁓ Hunter mentioned it just now and being an Eagle Scout. So I share that with Hunter that I’m an Eagle Scout as well. And my son is around the same age as Hunter. And so he did his own Eagle project as well. And so once you’re an Eagle, you’re always an Eagle. And we’re taught through our merit badges, citizenship in the community and in your nation. So those those things really impact you. So anytime I hear an eagle going out for its project, ⁓ I first heard about it when I was on the Boerne School Board and Hunter made a big impact. And most most eagle projects are not quite as impactful as what Hunter’s is. And it continued to grow and go really statewide. And so it had a big impact.

And we were cheering them on as people came aboard and supported, so I was part of that support and continuing that support now. And so really just that Eagle connection, I just kind of fell in love with the idea and the fact that a young man in our high school was looking and seeing where he could help and make a difference. And that was encouraging.

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (04:32)
You know, Alan, I have to say I owe a lot of great success, also a great gratitude for Boerne and the community of Boerne, I just don’t think this kind of project or endeavor would have taken off anywhere else. I really am grateful for the amount of people and support we received through that. It was just truly tremendous.

Alan Rich (04:54)
It’s a great community. They’re very supportive.

Emily Landry (04:59)
That was so sweet. So, Alan, did you know Hunter before you heard about the project? ⁓

Alan Rich (05:03)
I did not. And that was my first introduction to him was ⁓ hearing about the Eagle project as it kind of grew and he did presentations. And there’s more story to the Eagle story, but really the day one bags was ⁓ just something that caught everybody’s imagination of ⁓ didn’t know that was going on. And to see somebody take care of something that really nobody was saying was remarkable.

Emily Landry (05:33)
I love that. Okay, so Hunter, how do you measure success at the organization and what does a win feel like for you?

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (05:44)
Yeah, I think the way that, you know, Day One Bags kind of approaches successes. ⁓ We do look at the numbers we do of course track kind of all the different bags we’re giving out. To date we’ve given out 260,000 bags to foster youth all across the nation, ⁓ 47 states. It’s been just truly an amazing grace of ours.

And on top of that, we really try to focus our efforts here in Texas and there’s a great need here and that’s always kind of been an approach of ours on top of just numbers and seeing how many requests are coming in. We also really do look at, what does it mean to receive actual luggage, an actual backpack and an actual duffel bag. And to us, that’s really how we kind of gauge our impact is when we have discussions with foster youths, I would want to share in the future, it’s always, how did these make you feel? Because our motto has always been dignity, not trash. And that’s how we can provide that. We can provide this opportunity to have dignity come into a place where trash bags or receptacles was the norm. ⁓ that’s really, you know, that’s how our team kind of approaches that.

Emily Landry (06:46)
That’s great. So what kind of feedback do you typically get with the bags? Are there any specific stories that have stuck with you that you’re comfortable sharing with us?

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (07:16)
Yeah, there’s a lot of really great stories. know, for us, know, part of it is we always want to respect, you know, these youth as they’re as they’re transitioning into these different homes or all of these things like that. But when we do have the occasion to meet with some of them, a lot of them, I’d say a lion’s share of them really don’t know what to do with it. ⁓ They’ve given a lot of they’ve been handed a lot of ⁓ things that were secondhand. So something brand new, which is a really premium quality you know bag it’s made here in America and it has a lifetime warranty is always kind of jarring to them. I’ve had multiple ask me when do I return it or how can I get it back to you and I’m like this is not for me this is for you and it is yours to keep and so that’s one that’s you know I always have to kind of encourage them it’s okay you know it’s yours to use but on top of that you know some of our other campaigns that we’ve focused on which is just providing dignity to the the youth as a whole.

One of our campaigns we have in November is we give ⁓ the adopted youth who are getting adopted by a family, we put plush animals on the jury seats. so after their adoption process has been completed, they can go over to the jury seat and adopt one of their own stuffed animals. And they can give it a name and all that good stuff. But we’ve had some really awesome ones.

And we’ve had one little girl who got a lamb and the judge asked her why she chose a lamb and she said, well, it’s because when a lamb finds, it truly feels safe once it finds a home. And I felt like she felt like she found a home in that day and it was just a great moment for us.

Emily Landry (09:01)
That is such a beautiful story. And I love that it’s not, I mean the bags alone are so beautiful, but that’s such a sweet way to expand a little bit what you’re doing and that mission of dignity for these children. So you started, or Alan started kind of talking about how Boerne has had a big start to the organization.

I want to kind of pivot to what role do volunteers and community partners play in the mission? I’m suspecting Boerne may still have a really special place ⁓ in the work that Day One Bags is doing, but is there ⁓ other roles that volunteers and community partners help you with?

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (09:47)
Of course, especially with, and I know that a lot of nonprofits, especially small nonprofits that, you know, don’t have a huge labor force around them, they rely on volunteers and we’re the exact same way. You know, we really do rely on community impact and that’s been, you know, the case for us for a long, time. And really we focus on the Boerne area, central Texas, San Antonio, but really across the state too. We have, you know, I like to call them a whole army of quilters who have reached out to us and they love doing ⁓ quilting and it’s their labor of love and each of these handmade quilts are going directly to graduating high school seniors that were in the foster care system and they absolutely love these gifts because it’s very rare that they get something handmade made specifically for them and so it means a lot to them so we couldn’t do that without our volunteers and they work just tirelessly to make sure that that happens.

We’re very grateful to them. There’s just so many different stories of volunteers coming in out of the woodwork, ⁓ sharing their time, talent, and treasure, ⁓ what sector they’re working in, and making it their own in our system, and providing dignity to these youth. So ⁓ it’s been a great joy to have so many people rally behind us, especially on that volunteer side of things.

Emily Landry (11:12)
Wonderful. Well said.

The nonprofit community definitely needs more people engaging in volunteer roles. So what have been some of the biggest challenges facing Day One Bags and how have you overcome them?

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (11:28)
I think, yeah, the biggest challenges we see facing us is you know, the need is always going to be there. I think in, you know, with more individuals moving to Texas, kind of, you know, how we look at things moving to Texas and a number of youth that are entering into the system, the need is still very much present. And I think that’s a very daunting task for a lot of different organizations and for us included. But I do think we try to, ⁓ you know, as much as we can, make sure that the youth are aware of these things happening.

And then on top of that, the organizations that serve, you know, in their lives that are, you know, present schools, that they know that we’re around, we’re there to help these foster youth. ⁓ Group homes that actually house these youth, we know that we can reach out to them and say, if you have this youth or youth coming into your care, please know that we’re there to help serve.

But on top of that, all the different community volunteers, know, foster parents can know that if they meet another foster parent that hasn’t heard of us, can share the impact we do. And we hope to be a good relationship builder for all the different organizations that are serving foster youth. So when we hear about a child struggling with school, we know who to refer them to. So we really try to be a great connector of all the different organizations because we know we can’t serve every single need of these youth. Some organizations will have to be able to come in a sector that we’re not capable of helping them with.

And that’s where we feel like we can do a great need and I think a lot of our partners feel the same way.

Emily Landry (13:09)
That’s great.

So what’s something you’ve learned about youth in the foster care system and those youth experiencing homelessness that you wish more people understood?

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (13:23)
Yeah, one misconception I had was that I think I intuitively knew that the system wasn’t completely fleshed out. There’s always going to be things to work out. But what I didn’t realize was how much community really does drive their ⁓ success. I had no idea that while they do rely on lot of government assistance or support that they need from government entry, really does, they really focus a lot on how community, non-profits, community, resources, community, businesses help them out specifically. And I had no idea that that was something that was really key. just for example, for our work, I didn’t think that something as simple as luggage ⁓ needed to be something that had to be addressed in this system.

I didn’t know that there needed to be an organization in place to help foster that. But it makes a lot of sense when you think about how a transition moves. You hear that a transition needs to take place and you know, it could happen at the end of a school day and they can’t go back to their, you know, current residence or things like that. It’s often a very quick transition. And so, ⁓ you know, with this, all these communities fill in a specific spot. And I think that’s something that always recognizes that these community organizations that are serving really provide a vital role in their success of these youth. And I think that’s something great that we need to continually remind ourselves. And I had to do it myself too.

Emily Landry (15:06)
Mm-hmm. Allen, I know you’re really involved with the local community. Do you have anything you want to add to what Hunter said? 

Alan Rich (15:16)
So it is just looking for where you can make a difference. Hunter said it well that you can’t be everywhere, but if you pick one thing that you can go and you can help out on, then that’s where you should be. And there’s a proverb that says, if you see something that needs to be done, I’m paraphrasing, then you ought to go and do it. And so if your heart is tweaked, that something needs to be done, pick it up and go and help. And we see that played out all the time.

Emily Landry (15:54)
It’s beautiful. Well said. Hunter, what’s something in the local community you want our listeners to know about? So one thing we didn’t talk about when we got on the podcast, right now as we’re recording, Whitley Penn is primarily throughout the state of Texas. We have one awesome office in New Mexico. Shout out to our Hobbs office. ⁓ I ⁓ really think that we really cover most of the geographic area throughout Texas. So you’ve talked about how you primarily work through Texas. So when I say local, you could talk particularly about the area, ⁓ more in that hill country area, or you could talk all about Texas.

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (16:22)
Mm. Well, no, I think it’s, ⁓ first off, I want to thank y’all for what you’re doing. Even reaching out to smaller organizations like us has just been so impactful for our needs and it really helps us put us on the map for hopefully receiving more donations, but also to receive those requests of bags in different areas that need support. So we thank y’all for that. ⁓ I guess since we do focus on a lot of the Texas initiatives, I could stick around our side of that thing and I think for us the big thing that we’re looking for kind of happening in the local community has been we really wanted to provide dignity throughout the whole stage of the foster care system, starting from very, very young. We have a lot of initiatives helping ⁓ newborns, one-year-old toddlers, things like that.

But we also want to see it all the way through to graduating high school seniors and even those who have exited the system. We want to make sure that their needs are still met, even though technically they might not be in the foster care system. And so I think that’s kind of where the approach of the community drives in is ⁓ we always want to provide awareness, especially in our local area of here are some of the local youth. You know, maybe we can’t share their names, but we know the numbers. We know how many are in our local area. Let’s say 80 are going to be going off to, you know, trade or college, or they’re going to begin joining the workforce. Or we have some that go into the military.

And I think that this is a great opportunity for us to realize that there’s 80 youth among us that are very hard to see, have lived in 14 homes in the past five years, but they’ve exited the system, they’re going onto a new step and we wanna encourage them even in that journey. I hope that kinda gives a picture at like where we wanna go with our approach, but we have an uphill battle and we’re always continuing to look at how we can improve, providing a good scope of what’s happening.

Emily Landry (18:45)
I like that you started with this idea of, saw this from the three kids that entered my family home, and then you said, well, we’re not thinking about they never receive a homemade blanket, and then we’re not thinking about this. And you’ve sort of let ⁓ their stories pull you where you need to be pulled, rather than making it an issue of pride and, well, you know, really wanted to have this be a one and done Eagle Scout project and that’s all it’s gonna be. You’ve really let it go where it needs to go. So I think that’s a great testament to your faithfulness and the cause. 

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (19:25)
Thank you. Yeah, a lot of people have supported us in that journey and we couldn’t do it without it. You know, Alan and everyone, just been wonderful.

Emily Landry (19:35)
We’re glad to have been a tiny part of that story. Our next question, we were able to support you with a ⁓ grant. Do you have plans or have you already spent the money that we sent to you? And if so, are you able to share how you spent the money?

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (19:55)
You caught my bluff. we whenever we receive a lot of you know support we are quick to make sure that it goes out because it’s just like I mentioned before the need is always very great and so for us it was it was specifically working with ⁓ Just especially, you know our high school seniors. We were looking at providing We have a whole campaign that runs, you know right in that, you know graduation season called adopt a senior and that for us is a huge opportunity to make that we’ve got, you know, it’s on average about 500 each year in Texas. And yeah, it’s a lot and a lot of them, you know, we want to make sure that they have graduation gifts. It really started out of COVID. A lot of them didn’t have graduation parties. Their group homes couldn’t celebrate anything or their, you know, case workers or we actually, you know, there’s a preparation. So you might see my, hear my baby. There’s a preparation for adult living community that helps kind of put on parties.

But when COVID hit those parties couldn’t happen. And so we tried to fill that gap with ⁓ a bag and a bunch of necessary supplies, a $100 gift card, some school supplies that they were planning to go to school. And then that’s where our quilts came in. And so we, you know, a lot of those funds have gone directly in. already been impacting youth and we were hearing back from universities who were hoping to journey within the future to make sure that these youth are continuing to, to perceive that ⁓ dignity. And it’s been, it’s been really awesome. So we’re thankful that we received it because it couldn’t have come at a better time for us in serving our Texas community.

Emily Landry (21:31)
That’s wonderful. I need to see if our campus recruiting team has any connections at universities we can help you leverage.

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (21:37)
Most definitely, yeah. There’s a lot of great organizations, but we’re coming to find out that a lot of foster youth didn’t even know that they exist at these campuses, that there’s specific organizations, but really divisions of the university that help them out. And we’re hoping to partner with them to make sure that they know, if they’re there, they know that there’s support there so they don’t have to worry about where they’re gonna pay their rent or all these different factors. And so it’s been great.

Emily Landry (22:10)
So Alan, will you tell us more about what you wish our team knew about the philanthropic fund or about Day One Bags? I think Hunter did a great job covering Day One Bags, but maybe there’s something he’s shy to share because he doesn’t want to come off as prideful, but I want to make sure that you have that opportunity to share with us too.

Alan Rich (22:36)
Absolutely. Well, when the firm started the separate fund, it was pretty exciting to me because it’s ⁓ always one of the things that you want to be a part of something that’s bigger than bigger than you. And probably one of the neatest things that I’ve seen this past year is when the floods happened in Kerrville, that immediately the next day, ⁓ Monday, after all that happened, the firm had designated next month that all the donations that came into the fund were going to help Kerrville and that’s our community. so for the whole firm across the state to come in and to help our folks in our area that are impacted, that meant a lot to us and to the community and that was just fantastic. Hunter mentioned it earlier about the quilting. I think that was kind of neat.

And just, you you take these folks that are making these quilts and, you know, I’ve seen that firsthand in my life when a ⁓ relative or a friend gets a handmade quilt, it’s something special. And so, you know, to get one that’s, they take a lot of time. And so that was one of the ones I was going to mention as well. the ⁓ thing that really caught my eye about this is that Hunter’s Group impacted all of the places that our markets are at and where our people are working. And so that really kind of caught my eye as we were visiting about nominating them. And then when we were able to inform them, and that was a great moment. I think he and I both were a little bit teary eyed. And so it made a big difference. And just to have a part to help out these kids is fantastic because the journey is hard sometimes. ⁓

And I think you hope that someday they take that and they help the next kid down the line.

Emily Landry (24:41)
I love that. Well, Hunter, if our listeners are interested, how could they get involved? And then this podcast will be coming out in early 2026. I have to literally look as a tax person. I’m always looking and tax returns are a year behind, right? So I’m like, what year are we in? What year are we moving to? So if you have any exciting initiatives inside of 2026, we’d love to talk about them.

This episode will be coming out before graduation season. So that’s a big one in the May, June timeframe, I would think. And then talked about adoption month in November. But I want you to have the chance to highlight anything you want to highlight.

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (25:12)
Mm-hmm.

No, you really did a great job of kind of giving a good scope of some of the big things we have. We do have that graduation season. We have adoption in November. But Enters First, we have a lot of great initiatives happening in February with Valentine’s Day. And we also have a lot of Christmas kind of activities as well. ⁓ But we’re really looking at that approach of the adoptive senior and helping out some of the universities or those who are entering into higher education. That’s kind of been a focus of where can we make sure that we’re meeting those needs. And so I think that’s ⁓ a great way to kind of join. the best way to kind of see at what we’re doing is going on our website at dayonebags.org.

And that’s kind of our pulse on this, you know, the organization, what we’re serving. And it’s a great way to kind of check out what we’re doing and kind of learn how you can volunteer or of course, donate to us financially and it’d be a great way to serve our foster youth throughout all across the nation, but especially those who are in Texas.

Emily Landry (26:35)
Thank you so much to both of you for coming on. I appreciate you for sharing more about the organization. really was a, every time I record one of these podcasts, I’m so uplifted by what our nonprofit community is doing and the sweet ideas they have and they take and they run with and they just bless our community in so many different ways. And there is no exception here for you guys. Y’all are doing a wonderful job at Day One Bags.

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (26:54)
Thank you, couldn’t do it without supporters like y’all. It’s been awesome.

Alan Rich (27:06)
Yeah, we appreciate your leadership and all this too, Emily. You’ve been great.

Emily Landry (27:09)
Okay, well thank you. So for those listening, if you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or listen right on our website at WhitleyPenn.com slash podcasts. Thank you again Hunter and Alan. I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your day.

Hunter Beaton – Day 1 Bags (27:09)
Yes, thank you, Emily.