Yonkers students got free backpacks and a chance to meet a special role model today.

Former New York Knick John Wallace made a stop at Martin Luther King Jr. Academy. Wallace is a board member of Heavenly Productions, a nonprofit founded by Dr. Kathy Reilly Fallon that helps children in need or in distress.

The group presented students in pre-K through eighth grade with 600 backpacks. Heavenly Productions is also donating school supplies, including tissue boxes and books, that will be divided among the classrooms.

"You have to give back," said Wallace. "It's cliche, but if we all did it the world would be a better place."