BACKPACKS FOR LIFE
Modero and D’Alessandro decided
that they wanted to be able to help
more veterans by providing them
with backpacks stuffed with basic
necessities. They crowdfunded
$3,000 on GoFundMe and purchased
what they could.
Today, the couple offers backpacks
that they stuff with not just daily
essentials like toiletries and feminine
products for women, but books,
socks, makeup and water bottles as
well as resources for veteran pro-
grams. So far, Backpacks for Life has
distributed over 6,000 backpacks to
veterans, most of them at events
BFL publicizes on its website
(backpacksforlife.org).
Modero and D’Alessandro have
even had to upgrade and increase the
number and size of storage units they
have to store all their backpacks and
supplies. They have three large units
in Fairfield where they have stuffing
events with volunteers.
THE BOWERY PACK
Modero says that many homeless
veterans carry all their important
paperwork, such as their discharge
papers, social security cards and
birth certificates, with them; if they
get stolen, they’re in serious trouble.
“Imagine if your house was stolen,”
D’Alessandro says. “What would you
do?”
So they solicited help from friends
and family to test dozens of backpack
varieties and developed the Bowery
pack. Research led them to Tsuga,
a manufacturer in Boone, North
Carolina.
The backpack is made out of
ballistic nylon, the same material
used to make the bulletproof vest
D’Alessandro wore in Afganistan.
It contains a small removable piece
that can be hung and used as a toi-
letry kit, and a daisy chain that allows
grab-and-go items to be easily acces-
sible. It also has a locking aircraft
carrier cable, patches of reflective
material, extra-wide straps and pad-
ding in the back for a more com-
FORM MEETS FUNCTION Alexa Modero, founder of Backpacks for Life, demonstrates the Bowery
pack, a specially engineered backpack developed with homeless veterans in mind.
fortable fit. A whistle clip is easily
accessible in case the veteran needs
to call for help. The Bowery pack
costs $210. For every Bowery pack
the couple sells, one will be given to
a homeless veteran.
To help keep homeless veterans
from getting cold sleeping on the
ground, it also features a quarter-
inch-thick cell foam collapsible
sleeping mat; the Bowery pack with
the mat costs $250.
NOT JUST A BACKPACK
The struggles with PTSD that
D’Alessandro and other members
of his unit endured after returning
home convinced him and Modero to
go beyond distributing backpacks to
veterans, and to spend time reaching
out and speaking to them about their
needs.
Modero says that for veterans,
the challenge is often not the lack of
availability of resources, but how to
navigate it all and figure out the
services for which they are eligible.
“There are so many incredible
resources, and every time you talk to
a vet, their story is completely differ-
ent,” Modero says. “It’s not one size
fits all.” D’Alessandro and Modero
hope to guide veterans by launching
a comprehensive search portal called
Roger in the near future, which
should allow veterans to quickly find
resources and benefits that work best
for them. “We want a vet to click no
more than three times to find what
they need,” D’Alessandro says.
The pair often meets veterans
through their website and at fund-
raisers, and work one-on-one with
them, taking the time to learn about
them and what they may have gone
through. Modero works a lot with the
military spouses because she feels she
can understand their viewpoint.
Last year, a female veteran reached
out to them late at night, trying to
escape from a domestic violence situ-
ation in Pennsylvania. D’Allesandro
and Modero jumped into action,
calling area hotels so the woman
and her child would have a place to
stay; Modero then met her at a hotel
and spent the night with her. The
couple called the police to let them
know she wasn’t missing and what
had happened; they also checked her
car to make sure it could make it to
Washington with no problems, and
pre-paid for the room she and her
child would be staying in at every
hotel along the drive.
Then, while the veteran was driv-
ing cross-country, they cleaned up
her resume, transferring her informa-
tion from one VA office to another;
they also researched housing for her.
“There is so much more work to
be done,” Modero says. ■
MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE FALL 2019
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