Backpack Drive for the Homeless

A backpack. To a student, it’s a convenient means of carrying textbooks and notebooks. To a traveler, it’s a handy way to bring a snack, a jacket and a tablet to use on the plane. But to a homeless person, a backpack is an absolute necessity. It’s a bureau, a closet, a medicine cabinet and a pillow. Everything that a homeless person owns is carried in a backpack.

Good Neighbors in Riverside provides nourishing food, clothing and daytime shelter those in need in our community – children, seniors, veterans, the working poor, single parent households and those in ill health. Good Neighbors is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p. m. Many clients are homeless and spend their nights in shelters after our doors close. Others live on the street.

In order to avoid having their possessions lost or stolen, many of these individuals carry their clothes, toiletries and personal effects with them all day, often in paper or plastic bags. In order to make it a little easier to carry the load, Good Neighbors is sponsoring a backpack drive. The goal is to raise $3,500 in order to purchase 100 sturdy backpacks to distribute to the homeless in our community. Contributions can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/z3te3n54.

We welcome community-wide support. Collect backpacks at work or from members of school or civic groups you belong to. If you have a new or used backpack you don’t need, bring it to Good Neighbors, at 55 Turner Ave. in Riverside, RI from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Please use the entrance at the back of the building, on Dorr Ave. Your support is greatly appreciated.