As the academic year winds down and U students begin making plans to go their separate ways, many will begin the process of discarding all vestiges and reminders of school, including abandoning their used and no-longer needed backpacks.

The worn book carriers may well elicit from them unpleasant memories of heavy, expensive and rarely used texts and give cause to casually toss them into the trash and never give them another thought.

However, as the saying goes, one person’s junk is another’s treasure.

Consequently, whether you are a graduating senior with no further need of a backpack, or a returning student simply in search of a new one for the upcoming year, before you dump it in the nearest garbage can, please consider those who would be all-too-happy to have it.

The Bennion Center, in conjunction with the Humanitarian Resource Center of America, is conducting a drive to collect 500,000 used backpacks by year’s end to donate to underprivileged children.

Anyone who can should contribute to this worthy cause.

It is a sad reflection upon our society that there are those too downtrodden to pay for a bookbag, let alone fill it with school supplies, but such is the reality we face every day.

While a great many of our own ranks often gripe about our own destitute situations, complaining about another meal of Top Ramen noodles consumed for the billionth straight time, the truth is, as college students, we are generally fortunate enough to take for granted the things these young children can’t help but consider unattainable luxuries.

It is a small, relatively unobtrusive gesture to take an old backpack and drop it off at either the Bennion Center or the office of the Associated Students of the University of Utah. Doing so will not get you on the 10 o’clock news or earn you a ticker-tape parade.

What it will do, however, is make some kid’s day.

The Humanitarian Resource Center has purchased the supplies these kids need?now it is requesting backpacks to put them in. Your throw-away object could be enough to bring a smile to someone else’s face.