They get by with a little help from their friends.

As it continues to provide hope for people who have no place to call their own, Family Promise of Carbon County can use all the assistance it canget.Fortunately for the nationwide program in response to homelessness, a pair of Girl Scouts were more than ready and willing to donate to the cause.Bethany Thomas and Jessica Bauer of Palmerton Service Unit Girl Scout Troop 3112 recently presented four handmade bookshelves and donated books to the organization.For both girls, this was their project to earn their Girl Scout Silver Award, which is the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette (grades six to eight) can achieve, and gives the chance to show they are a leader who is organized, dedicated and determined to improve their community.As part of their projects, Bethany, a ninth-grade student at Palmerton Area High School, said they built bookshelves, collected donated books at Country Harvest Family Market in Palmerton, and held a bake sale at the store."I read pretty much constantly," said Bethany, 15. "Knowing that a lot of people can't read because they don't have as many books, I thought, why not give books to people."In all, Bethany said about 500 books were collected, and added that more books will be purchased with funds left over from the bake sale.Jessica, a fellow ninth-grader at PAHS, echoed her classmate's sentiment."It definitely feels good to give back to the community because of all they give to everyone," said Jessica, 14. "This (Family Promise) is a great cause to give back to."Alicia Kline, director, Family Promise of Carbon County, said the organization is thrilled that the students are willing to assist them."It's so heart-warming to see teenagers working to help these families and donate their time and money to donate something for us," Kline said. "Our families appreciate when people do things for us."At present, Kline said Family Promise has four families consisting of 14 people at the building at 167 S. Third St. in Lehighton."The kids are always reading, and it gives the families something to do because we don't have cable," she said. "If there's more social groups, we could always use radiator covers and more donations."Kline said the organization currently has 10 families on its waiting list."We're struggling financially right now," she said. "As soon as one family moves out, another moves in."