June 2, 2025 Submitted by Amanda Cease
In honor of Foster Care Awareness month, a packed house turned up at the Hingham Girl Scout House to hear Lily Bastis, a junior at Hingham High, unveil her Girl Scout Gold Award Initiative. The initiative, named “Networking For Neighbors,” is focused on drawing attention and resources to a little-known gem in Hingham called the Beal Street House.
Beal Street in Hingham is an adolescent group home for transitional age youth, focused on teaching independent living skills to teens ages 15-20. Since 1990, it has been quietly assisting hundreds of people – yet very few people know about it. “One of the reasons I chose this as my Gold Award project,” says Bastis, “is because I live a stone’s throw from this amazing resource and didn’t even know it was there.” The home is co-ed, can serve up to 12 teens, and provides 24-hour services including meals and a bedroom, life-skills and vocational training, and other trauma- informed care. The length of stay varies depending on each circumstance.
The event included not just Bastis explaining her Award’s mission of raising awareness and providing critical meals, clothing, and transportation options for these at-risk youth, but also guest speakers Bridget Galvin, a Hingham resident who has been leading volunteer-driven activities at the home for 7 years, Director of Beal Street Christina Caraco , and Liz Hauk, author of “Home Made” which chronicles her experiences at a residential home in Somerville. Together, they educated the audience on the many needs of Beal Street, the history of the Bay State Community Services-run home, and how Hingham residents can get involved.
“It is critical to their success that these youth have access to the things teens need to make them feel like they belong,” says Director Christina Caraco. “Just like any teen, wearing certain brands of clothing, eating certain types of food, owning a decent cell phone, having access to hair services that follow current trends, or even carrying the “in” water bottle can lead to a more successful experience and less truancy- especially when they are in a town like Hingham.”
It is because of this that many volunteer-driven initiatives are being started for the home, including a Meal Train, Amazon wish lists, tutoring services, donated hair services, donated bikes and bike repair for transportation, and other gift drives including Easter baskets, Christmas stockings & presents, “Birthday in a bag,” and raising funds for enriching Summer activities.
For Bastis, choosing to help raise awareness for Beal Street was a natural fit. She has always been interested in service, and just recently returned from a service trip to Africa where she and her St. Paul-Resurrection Life Teen community volunteered in daycare centers and orphanages in Tanzania. “Lily really knew she wanted to focus on an underserved population, but didn’t realize that she would find the perfect fit less than a mile from our house,” jokes her mom Jenn. “She is now one hundred percent invested in helping these teens get the items they need and deserve, and I’m very proud of her.”
How to help:
For those who feel called to give or volunteer, you can:
1) Reach out to Beal Street’s volunteer coordinators Bridget Galvin at bgalvin@bostonpublicschools.org or Jennifer Bastis at Jenbastis@comcast.net.
2) Donate at www.baystatecs.org/donate (choose ‘Youth in Residential Homes’ from the ‘My donation is for’ dropdown; add “Girl Scout Gold Award For Beal Street” in the comments).
3) Join the meal train by clicking on: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/vk8wlz/updates/482916