With summer holidays over, Wednesday marked the annual return to school for Sault and area children and teens.
With support from local businesses, the United Way of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District has made it easier for many families in need to send their children back to school by supplying them with new backpacks stuffed with school supplies through its Backpacks for Success program.
“Backpacks for Success was created and brought to our community to help offset the costs of school supplies. It’s not cheap to send your child to school. Some families are struggling. We’re trying to waive some of those financial barriers,” said Rayna Evoy, United Way of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District director of development and community impact.
“We don’t want kids going to school not having the school supplies they need because that could separate them from their peers and make them feel insecure. We just want to make sure everybody has the supplies they need to reach their full potential,” Evoy told SooToday.
Backpacks for Success, now in its third year, provided 620 backpacks filled with essential school supplies for Sault and Algoma schoolchildren in need.
“In our first year we had a goal of 25 backpacks with supplies and we got 103. So we were really excited about that. Last year we had 306 backpacks and we’re up to 620 backpacks this year. Each year, like with any event, the numbers grow as word gets out,” Evoy said.
Depending on a student’s age, the needs range from crayons to calculators.
Binders can range in price from $20 to $40.
Backpacks can range in price from $10 to $25 or more.
“The school boards are great and step up to help cover that and a lot of teachers have donated a lot of money to their classrooms to ensure that their students have those items but we’re doing our part to help,” Evoy said.
During each year of the Backpacks for Success program, the United Way of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District has approached local school boards for an estimated amount of how many backpacks with supplies will be required by needy children in the new school year.
With those numbers in hand, United Way of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District staff and volunteers go shopping for backpacks and school supplies.
Staff and volunteers from the United Way of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District as well as other community agencies then gather to fill the backpacks.
The backpacks then go to the school boards and community centres for distribution to students who need them.
Connect the Dots Community Harvest and Harvest Algoma assisted in this year’s backpack delivery.
The Algoma District School Board, Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board and Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario benefit from the program.
A long list of businesses that provide funding for the backpacks and supplies include TD Canada Trust, Algoma Business Computers and Highland Ford.
“Our children are our future and we don’t want them struggling, we don’t want them worrying, and at the end of the day that’s what this program is about,” Evoy said.
“These children are going to be our leaders when we’re older and retired. We want them to have the potential to grow to whatever they want to be.”