from an article by Cheryl Opper recently published in Huff Post Impact.
What I couldn’t have imagined at the time was the impact receiving that new backpack would have on Will’s life. Having suffered through his family’s eviction from their apartment and living in a single room with little personal space and no privacy, the 14-year-old carried a huge burden he wasn’t comfortable sharing with even his closest friends. “On the outside I looked like I was the same,” he said, “but on the inside I was really hurting because I felt like I had lost everything.”
Now, to some children, a new backpack and some school supplies might not be a big deal. But to Will, they were a life-changing gift which caused him to think seriously about his future. “If someone I don’t even know cares about my education, I better start caring about it, too,” he recalls thinking.
