Backpacks Full of Hope, in Honor of MLK

The Backpack Project Durham aims to provide hope for residents experiencing homelessness

When Duke senior Ashley Talwar arrived on campus in 2022, she could not find a community service club that spoke to her passion for helping others.

So Talwar took action. Along with four of her classmates, she started a campus chapter of the national nonprofit The Backpack Project (TBP).

Today, the Duke University-based TBP Durham has about 250 trained student volunteers. To commemorate the Dr. Martin Luther King’s federal holiday dedicated to community service, TBP Durham aimed to provide a glimmer of hope for the city’s most vulnerable residents who are experiencing homelessness.

On Monday, January 19, TBP Durham members gathered for the Unity Rally and Backpack Project service event at Wilson Gymnasium, where, with volunteers, they filled around 400 backpacks with more than 30 essential items, including toiletries, clothing and non-perishable food, along with bracelets, letters and keychains.

This event marked TBP Durham’s 1,500th backpack filled.

The Assembly Line

Student volunteers’ assembly line packing of the backpacks were in concert with other volunteers making bracelets, while another section wrote letters meant to inspire and encourage impoverished residents. A large corkboard inside further allowed volunteers share “what service means to them,” explained Talwar, and, “what Durham means to them.”

Big crowd of people assembling backpacks — Volunteers filled backpacks with essential items.

People sitting at a table writing letters — The event included a letter writing section.

A person holding up a bracelet that says 'you are loved' — Bracelets shared messages of support.

The backpacks will be placed in a storage unit and distributed weekly to partner nonprofit organizations such as Meet Me at the Bridge, Community Paramedics, Changed Paths and Durham’s Holistic Empathetic Assistance Response Teams.

Talwar added that TBP Durham is expanding their efforts this year by making these backpacks reach residents living in the rural parts of the state.

Engaging With Durham

One of TBP Durham’s signature outings, “Meet Me at the Bridge” takes place underneath a bridge near the Durham Bulls Stadium on Blackwell Street, where volunteers — in addition to handing out backpacks — serve fresh, home-cooked meals.

“All our events are a way for students to break the Duke bubble and engage with Durham, and get to know our amazing neighbors,” Talwar said.

One community group that has benefitted from TBP Durham’s backpack hustle is Families Moving Forward, a nonprofit that provides emergency shelter for families enduring the crisis of homelessness. TBP Durham volunteers even renovate shelter rooms across Durham with A Lotta Love.

Talwar will earn an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering in May. She is a 2024 recipient of the Lars Lyon Volunteer Service Award, named in honor of former Duke undergraduate student Lars Lyon. The annual award was established in 1989 to recognize a Duke undergraduate who has made a difference in a local school or nonprofit organization.

Talwar’s passion to help the less fortunate is not happenstance. An important part of her upbringing and family values has been to give back to the community. As a child she volunteered at temples, food kitchens in gurudwara, and brought extra meals to school to share with friends.

Issues like food insecurity, she said, became “very near and dear” to her. So, in addition to making meals every Wednesday morning in middle school, she started distributing them in person in New York City and Newark, volunteering and leading her high school service club in Westfield, N.J., for three years.

Talwar says TBP Durham is just one organization that gets to commemorate Martin Luther King’s “amazing legacy,” but she thinks service to the communities where we live should be an essential part of our humanity. It is crucial in this day and age to “make giving a way of life with small acts of service that cascades like a butterfly effect,” she said.

Talwar added, “we should use Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. legacy as motivation and inspiration to make service a part of our lives on a daily basis.”