Founded in 2019, Beyond a Goal (B.A.G) is an organization that helps the homeless in the NY/NJ area by distributing bags of personal hygiene necessities. Started during the COVID-19 pandemic, B.A.G aims to provide the homeless with the kind of essentials most of us take for granted. While the COVID-19 pandemic increased the importance of maintaining one’s personal hygiene, the homeless did not have the luxury of being able to follow suit due to the shutdown of homeless shelters and public restrooms. This is why high school volunteers from B.A.G seek to restore the dignity and safety of the homeless by underscoring their basic human right to healthful living.
Every Sunday this past summer, B.A.G organized local fundraisers. The members, going door-to-door, explained their cause and asked for money donations to be used to fund the distribution of the backpacks containing hygiene kits, extra shirts, and water bottles. As a token of appreciation, a candy bag was given to donors who gave $20 or more. To spread awareness of the organization and its mission, these high schoolers also set up and promoted their GoFundme page. The response from the local community was incredible.
B.A.G was able to raise over $4,500 in the past 3 months through local fundraisers and online donations. With the money raised, B.A.G works with various wholesalers to get materials that are included in the backpacks at more affordable prices.
Gathering to pack the materials into backpacks, these volunteers created an assembly line, in which each group had its respective task: opening the backpack, putting the shirts in, putting the hygiene kit in, putting the water bottle in, and closing the backpack. With each member being delegated a task, 48 backpacks were packed within just 20 minutes.
As of September 2022, the organization comprises over 35 members and over 194 backpacks have been created. The most recent shelter that B.A.G was able to help out was the Hoboken Homeless Shelter located in Hoboken, NJ. In the hopes of helping the surrounding community of Hoboken, which has up to 1,000 homeless men, women, and children on the streets, the group of high school volunteers distributed 50 backpacks to the shelter.
The organization is proud of the progress it has made and the success it has achieved this year over the course of three months. The next journey for B.A.G is to go on a mission trip to New York, directly meeting the homeless and listening to their stories along with giving out backpacks to them. To learn more about the journey of these remarkable high school students from Bergen County, NJ, visit beyondagoal.com or their Instagram page @bag_ny.
