Macpack: Backpacks For The Homeless

Mac Mission Incorporated is a nonprofit in Austin, TX. We assemble backpacks with useful items and deliver them to the local homeless community. We are very grassroots . It's just three officers and a bunch of dedicated volunteers. We would like to reach more of the community and that's where you can help! A small donation of funds will go toward more backpacks for the homeless in Austin. We also accept items on our list of "What's in a Macpack ?"

Check out our website for more information: Macpack Website

Ryan Reddick
Late Vice President and Treasurer


Mac Rawley
The Name Behind Macpack

After some research, the list of essential items gelled into the following items in a basic Macpack:

Backpack
Hat
Gloves
Travel Blanket
Small tarp or poncho
Mylar emergency blanket
Socks
Travel size toiletries:

Chapstick
Bandaids
Tissues
Wet Wipes (alcohol-free)
Sunscreen
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Dental floss
Lotion
Soap
Washcloth
Shampoo
Deodorant
Hairbrush
Nail file
Water bottle
Vitamins

I was initially trying to find a way to connect with my dying father and deal with my great sadness. He was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in July. Since he lived in NJ and I live in TX, it was a challenge to spend quality time with him in his last months. He was a street philanthropist and gave money to anyone who asked him. We were not by any means rich, but he gave to people with honor and dignity. That is the spirit that I want to keep alive. It is also the spirit that I want to share with those involved in this project. So you see, this outreach is not just for the recipients but for the givers as well. When I met Ryan Reddick, he inspired me to register this as a bonafide nonprofit along with my mother, Claudia and we called it Macpack in honor of my father, Mac. Now that Ryan has passed on, it is in both of their honor that we continue Macpack. Thank you for your support.

We have made some very kind friends along our journey and they have shared their support.  With his permission, I would like to share a quote from one such friend in VT.

"I remember clearly, standing alone, in the dark, at the old entrance to a NYC Homeless shelter. I remember, clearly, people knowing that I'd been hiding under trees and over-growth, calling themselves my "friends" and bidding me "Safe night" when I went back to those trees and over-growth.And I VERY clearly remember having found you, on Twitter, and following all the wonderful gifts of kindness, human compassion and "REAL LOVE" you gave to your local ...Homeless people. And just as clearly, I remember how I'd cry, on my steel-framed bed in that shelter in NYC, knowing, first-hand, what incredible JOY you gave to people who truly needed even just the acknowledgement that they're just as human as anybody and everybody else.

If time takes memories (as I find it does as years pass), you had better rest well-assured that it won't take my memories of you and your gifts of human-kindness because THOSE memories aren't in my mind... they're buried deep in my heart.

To others this probably all sounds like a lot of over-dramatic gushing... but if they could only know, from the perspective of those you truly help... well... I doubt even then they'd truly understand. But there are people out here who do. And even those who've not met you appreciate you as much as those who have because there's one really nice little fact about Homeless folks and those who've truly been Homeless:
When you make one of us happy, you honestly make ALL of us happy.

The world is an especially blessed place... because it has you."

Thank you to all our friends.