Teaneck resident and recent high school graduate Judah Lopkin had a productive and interesting summer, to say the least. After finding out that YouTube sensation MrBeast was looking for participants in a new video, Lopkin applied right away. Despite expecting nothing in response, Lopkin received a callback and eventually made it onto the show, leaving his job at Camp Nesher early to film the video in Las Vegas. Once at the hotel, everything was top-secret, and Lopkin had no idea what was going on until filming began. Lopkin was nervous to be one of very few observant Jews in the video, but his hotel room assignment, room 613, reassured him; along the way, he also met other Jews and Israelis, and he was thrilled to find his people in a massive, unfamiliar group. Lopkin shared that he saw a Jewish man with a kippah and siddur, he yelled “Achi!” and the two embraced. A few Christian guys that Lopkin was hanging out with asked if Lopkin knew a particular Jewish friend, and he said “All Jews don’t know each other, but we really do know each other.” Lopkin appreciated the opportunity to teach Jewish concepts to people who had never encountered them before.

Once the games began, Lopkin had to fight to succeed. Unfortunately, he was eliminated early on during the game; details about the show cannot be shared publicly until the show’s release.

Despite his loss, he received a cash prize from MrBeast. With this money, Lopkin knew he wanted to make an impact, to do a tremendous chesed. Inspired by MrBeast’s incredible charity videos, Lopkin wanted to share his chesed to social media as well, to pay homage to the source of the money. Lopkin decided to run a back to school backpack giveaway with the money, but was not sure where. His mother suggested he run it in Newark, as his great-grandfather was the president of Ahavas Shalom, a shul in Newark’s underprivileged community.

After calling and emailing local churches, schools, libraries and community centers, Lopkin reached 200 sign-ups for his drive, which took place on September 1. Lopkin collected school supplies and placed them in backpacks, designating some for elementary school kids and some for high school kids.

Lopkin also managed to get in contact with the founders of Sprayground, a company that sells stylish, quality backpacks. Sprayground donated 10 limited-edition backpacks for a “backpacks for backpacks” fundraiser—for every $10 a person donated, they would receive a raffle ticket to win a Sprayground backpack. Lopkin shared his initiative to his account @thedrumcell with his nearly 44,000 TikTok followers and 41,000 YouTube subscribers and managed to raise an additional $1,000.

At the event, Lopkin distributed 120 backpacks to kids in need. The remaining backpacks will also be handed out in the near future. Along with the backpacks, the event had a table with art projects and another with games such as Jenga and Connect 4. A third table had snacks, including ice pops and popcorn. Lopkin overheard one girl at the event yell, “I don’t want to leave!” and another child mentioned that his favorite part of the summer was getting his backpack. Families that had not signed up also arrived to get backpacks, and thanks to the aid of a group in Newark that purchased additional backpacks, many of these families were able to receive supplies as well.

Lopkin declared the school supply drive to be a massive success. With the help he received from his family and community, hundreds of children in need were able to receive school supplies at no cost for the year. Despite many community members only speaking Spanish and not understanding much English, Lopkin said that “chesed goes beyond words.”

Judah Lopkin’s story is a testament to the power of using unexpected opportunities to make a difference in the community and in the world.

To hear more about the drive, follow Lopkin @thedrumcell on TikTok and YouTube and keep an eye out for MrBeast’s video!

Eliana Birman is the assistant digital editor for The Jewish Link. She is a student at Barnard College and lives in Teaneck.