Oneonta teen's backpack project gave hope during Lent
When 13-year-old Elizabeth Reynolds sat down to decide what to give up for Lent in 2021, the Catholic Oneonta resident decided to instead set out on a community service project to help the city’s hidden homeless population. She wrote a letter to her family and friends outlining her plan – ‘Backpacks for the Homeless’ – and ended up raising $1,000 in short order.
“Instead of giving up my usual, chocolate, gum cheese … you get the idea! … I came up with the idea of providing backpacks for the homeless people in Oneonta,” she wrote.
She told The Freeman’s Journal / Hometown Oneonta she sat down with her mother, Carolyn Laden, St. James Church, and The Lord’s Table to craft a list of items and a strategy to distribute the backpacks.
“We brainstormed,” she said. “Blankets, adult-sized sweatshirts, socks, hygiene products were all the things that we thought about. I raised the $1,000 and then built my budget around that.”
On a legal pad, the teen priced out a total of two dozen backpacks and the items she thought best to include – everything from hair ties and Chapstick to hair brushes, rain ponchos, deodorant, facemasks, snacks and water, sweatshirts, and a throw blanket.
“I wanted to gear these toward adults,” she said.
