Fill a Backpack, Help Change a Life

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Each donation transforms into backpacks with essentials for Jacksonville’s unhoused neighbors

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6 donors
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0% complete

$280 raised of 

Fill a Backpack, Help Change a Life

Fill a Backpack, Help Change a Life

0% complete

$280 raised of 

6 donations
Donation protected

Hello from The Open Hands Project!


We have officially RELAUNCHED for 2026!


Help our small team provide warmth, hygiene, protection, nourishment, and dignity to our unhoused neighbors.


We are personally distributing care kits to people experiencing homelessness throughout Jacksonville, Florida, including the Beaches and Downtown areas.


These kits are distributed directly to people in need!


We also volunteer alongside local organizations, donation centers, charities, and community partners to help get essential supplies into the hands of those who need them most.


Each kit is designed around two major needs: surviving the elements and maintaining basic hygiene and dignity, with additional supplies that can be especially useful during Florida’s hurricane season, extreme heat, heavy rain, and colder winter weather.


What’s Inside Each Kit:


Every complete care kit contains 30 essential items:


  • 17-inch backpack
  • Thermal emergency blanket
  • Fleece throw blanket
  • 1 pair of socks
  • Knit gloves
  • Knit beanie
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Rain poncho
  • Hand warmers
  • Toothpaste
  • Toothbrush
  • Hair comb
  • Nail file
  • Shaving razor
  • Shaving cream packet
  • Deodorant
  • Hand wipes
  • 2 bars of soap
  • Shampoo
  • Body wash
  • Shower cap
  • Disposable mask
  • Clean underwear
  • Feminine sanitary pads/liners
  • Sripture card

• Bottled water

  • Granola or Nut-free protein bar
  • Applesauce pouch

Each backpack is assembled with the goal of providing not just emergency supplies, but practical care for the person carrying it.


Your Donations:


Every donation helps turn individual contributions into tangible supplies that can be placed directly into someone's hands.


  • $22 = 1 complete care kit
  • $44 = 2 kits
  • $110 = 5 kits
  • $220 = 10 kits
  • $500 = approximately 22 kits
  • $1,000 = approximately 45 kits

Our Progress:


We want you to be able to see exactly what your generosity is helping accomplish.


As donations come in, we'll update the count so our community can watch individual contributions become actual backpacks filled with essential supplies.


$22 isn't just a donation. It's one backpack of support. One person cared for. One reminder that they haven't been forgotten.


Why These Kits Matter:


For someone living outside, something as simple as a dry pair of socks, a rain poncho, a blanket, drinking water, or basic hygiene supplies can make an enormous difference.


Jacksonville's weather can be especially challenging for people without reliable

shelter.


Extreme heat, heavy rain, tropical storms, hurricanes, and winter cold can all create additional risks.


These kits aren't intended to solve homelessness.


They're intended to do something immediately practical:


Give someone warmth.


Give someone protection from the rain.


Give someone food and water.


Give someone basic necessities.


Give someone dignity.


Let someone know they haven't been forgotten.


As this project grows, the goal is to expand distribution through additional Jacksonville-area organizations and community partners so that more people can be reached.


Help Us Build the Next Backpack !


You can help by sponsoring an entire kit or contributing toward supplies for multiple kits.


No contribution is too small or too big.


A few dollars can become a pair of socks, a blanket, hygiene supplies, food, or water - and together, those individual contributions can become an entire backpack placed into

someone's hands.


Thank you for helping us care for our neighbors - not just during a crisis, but throughout the year.


Everyone deserves warmth.


Everyone deserves dignity.


Everyone deserves to know that somebody cares.


Help change a life today!


Find us on Instagram!


Find Chelsea on Instagram!

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Chelsea Snow
Organizer
Atlantic Beach, FL

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