Ethan Resnick’s backpack drive tops 400 donations for New Jersey students

A New Jersey student-led nonprofit effort has collected more than 400 backpacks and other school supplies for students and families in need, working with Nourish.NJ and schools in Newark. The project has also expanded to toiletries, showing how one back-to-school drive can meet broader basic needs.

Why it matters: - More than 16 million U.S. public school students, or about 1 in 4, lack the basic back-to-school essentials many families take for granted. - Backpack donations can help children start the school year prepared, and the same items can also support families in shelters and other unstable housing situations. - The Backpack Project is meeting needs beyond the classroom by also helping restock toiletry supplies for local families.

What happened: - Ethan Resnick launched The Backpack Project after volunteer work with Nourish.NJ in Morristown, New Jersey showed him how many basic needs local families face. - Resnick has collected more than 400 backpacks, dozens of school supply bags and additional toiletry items. - The Backpack Project distributes donations through Nourish.NJ and schools in Newark, New Jersey. - Resnick first used unused sports backpacks from his own home to start the effort, then expanded collection drives to friends, teammates and the broader community.

The details: - Resnick began volunteering in eighth grade with Nourish.NJ’s Breakfast Bags initiative, delivering breakfast items to people experiencing food insecurity. - He said that work helped connect school readiness, food access and basic supplies as part of the same challenge for many children. - He has played soccer since age 5 and had several backpacks in good condition that were no longer being used. - After the backpack drive started, Nourish.NJ said its emergency toiletry closet was nearly empty, prompting Resnick to organize a second collection. - Resnick reached out to his soccer team at Morristown-Beard, and the group gathered enough travel-sized and full-sized toiletries within days to help restock the closet. - Nourish.NJ Director of Volunteer Services Heidi Griffee said, “Ethan’s backpack collection is a fabulous way to support our neighbors.” - Griffee also said the organization appreciates his “time, effort, and generosity.” - Resnick said seeing a student use a backpack he had donated the year before made the project feel “real and personal.” - Resnick said backpacks, school supplies and food are essential for learning and helping children feel ready for school. - Resnick is a student at Morristown Beard School in Morristown, New Jersey and a four-year high school athlete on the soccer, basketball and golf teams. - He has received a Community Service Award for his involvement with Habitat for Humanity.

Between the lines: - The project shows how student-led giving can scale when it starts with surplus items already sitting at home. - The move from backpacks to toiletries suggests the need was broader than school supplies alone, and the effort became a practical response to whatever Nourish.NJ needed most. - The donation drive also turns a personal school-year ritual into a community support network for families under pressure.

What’s next: - Resnick plans to keep collecting backpacks and school supplies. - He also wants to find new ways to support Nourish.NJ and other New Jersey families. - He hopes the project will encourage more people to donate items they no longer use a second life. - Supporters can follow The Backpack Project on Instagram and donate by emailing backpackproject26@gmail.com.

The bottom line: - One student’s local service project has grown into a steady back-to-school aid effort for New Jersey families, with more than 400 backpacks already collected and more donations still possible.