giving back
The Things They Carry
Backpacks for Life provides lifelines to veterans
WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY KAITLYN KANZLER
the International Longshoremen’s
Association, but BFL is clearly
where his passion lies.
THE JOURNEY
ALL IN THE BAG Brett D’Alessandro, founder of Backpacks for Life, offers several styles of backpacks
to veterans.
B
ackpacks serve many
purposes. They carry
students’ books as they
go through their school
days, and serve as over-
night bags for children
staying at their grandparents’ homes.
But for others, backpacks are
lifelines. And Verona residents Brett
D’Alessandro and Alexa Modero
have dedicated the last five years to
making sure homeless and at-risk
veterans can use them this way.
D’Alessandro, a veteran of the
Marine Corps, and Modero, his girl-
friend, started Backpacks for Life as
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FALL 2019 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
a way to provide support to veterans
who are struggling. D’Alessandro’s
own experiences during and after his
time with the Marines shape how he
approaches the nonprofit, and each
veteran that BFL helps.
D’Alessandro and Modero say that
to them, their clients aren’t patients
or numbers. “You aren’t even a
vet,” D’Alessandro says. “You’re a
person.”
Last year, Modero quit her
corporate job in New York City
to devote full-time attention to the
nonprofit. D’Alessandro still works
a full-time job as a cargo checker for
D’Alessandro and Modero met
at the University of Rhode Island
before D’Alessandro volunteered to
be deployed to Afghanistan with 21
others. He was attached to a unit in
Helmand Province; it was a “rough
deployment,” he says, “[but] when
I came back home it was probably,
ironically, one of the hardest parts.”
He began abusing drugs and
alcohol, he says, and was unable to
process all the strange things he was
feeling, which he could only describe
as “hell.” He found himself tunneling
down a dark path, and was in a lot of
pain both mentally and physically.
Five years ago in Newport, Rhode
Island, while heading to a doctor’s
appointment, he drove past a man
on the side of the road with a sign
saying he was a homeless veteran,
and asking for help. The man stuck
with D’Alessandro and went back
with him to his motel room, where
D’Alessandro filled a backpack with
some basics like warmer clothes, and
gave it to the man. While doing so,
he learned that this man had suffered
as he had.
Three days later, D’Alessandro saw
the veteran again, this time with a
little boy who thanked D’Alesssandro
for the backpack, saying that he no
longer had to carry his books in his
hands on his way to school. The vet-
eran also thanked him for the warmer
layers, which the man had given to
his wife, who was sick at a homeless
shelter.
For D’Alessandro, it was a turning
point.