Student-run nonprofit, started at UGA in 2015
A backpack of essentials, handed to a person.
Students and volunteers pack backpacks with food, clothes, and hygiene supplies, then hand them to people who need them.
$25 fills one backpack.
The Backpack Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN 47-4511944.
18,000+
backpacks handed out since 2015
$62,692
in supplies distributed
2023, GuideStar
1,520
backpacks packed at the last Homeless Heroes Day
2025
$25
fills one backpack with essentials
How it works
Follow one backpack.
Every packing looks a little different. This is roughly how one bag gets from a folding table to a person.
- 1
The supplies come in.
Granola bars, trail mix, vitamin C, socks, toothpaste. Bought wholesale, so $25 covers a full bag.
- 2
Food, hygiene, and warmth go in.
A volunteer fills the bag from the table: something to eat, something to wash with, something warm.
- 3
Packed for the people we will meet.
What goes in changes with the season, the chapter, and what local partners tell us people need.
- 4
Zipped and stacked.
At Homeless Heroes Day 2025, volunteers packed 1,520 of them.
- 5
Out the door.
Volunteers carry the bags to the cars and drive to shelters, encampments, and partner sites the same day.
- 6
Handed over.
In person, with a short conversation and the name of a local service that can help next.
Programs
Distributions, company packings, and chapters.
Distributions
Our core work: pack bags, hand them out, and point people to local services.
How we deliver
Corporate packing
Your team packs in your office for 60 to 90 minutes. We bring the supplies and deliver the bags.
Book a packing
Student chapters
College chapters run local distributions with support from the national team.
Find a chapter9th annual Homeless Heroes Day
1,500+ backpacks in one morning.
- Friday, November 20, 2026. Check-in at 9:00 AM.
- Westside Warehouse, 996 Huff Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
- Company teams pack together, then deliver the bags with community partners the same day.
Chapters
Students in seven cities.
Chapters pack and deliver in their own towns. The national team helps fund and set up their distributions.
In their words
From the handoff.
Shared with permission from the people who said them.
Donate
Fill a backpack.
Food, hygiene supplies, and warm clothes, handed to someone in person. Your gift buys what goes in the bag.
The Backpack Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN 47-4511944. Or pack with your team