(Women's Outreach)

By Sheldon Spackman

Donations Down

Tools for School needs supplies for upcoming school year

Aug 10, 2020 | 1:38 PM

With most students in central Alberta set to return to school in just a few weeks, officials with Women’s Outreach in Red Deer are hoping those who can help are able to provide a donation to their Tools for School program.

The Tools for School program sees school supplies collected and distributed to families across central Alberta who have children in Kindergarten to Grade 12, who otherwise could not afford to purchase supplies. Thousands of backpacks are filled each year with basic school supplies to ensure students have the tools they need to succeed in school.

Women’s Outreach Executive Director Barb Barber says donations for the program are currently down from this time last year.

“We are still in need of a lot of school supplies,” says Barber. “We’re down probably about half of where we were at this time last year. So we are working more closely with United Way and so people can drop off school supplies or make donations either at United Way or at the Outreach Centre (4101 – 54 Avenue), and for people who are needing supplies, they can go onto our website and download the application form and send it back to us.”

Barber notes that people can also make cash donations at Staples locations at Parkland Mall and Gasoline Alley.

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Barber speculates, however, that the economy and COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the amount of supplies they currently have.

“What I’m experiencing is people telling me, ‘You know what, we were able to donate last year but we actually need help with school supplies this year’,” admits Barber. “So I think it’s definitely a combination of both, and just also people not knowing if they’re going to send their kids back to school or if they’re going to home school or do online school. So I think there’s just a lot of unknowns in so many areas and this is just another example of that.”

According to Barber, Women’s Outreach was able to distribute 1,200 backpacks to local students in need last year.

“I would say at this point, we are only at about a third of the way to even meet that 1,200 backpacks,” adds Barber. “It’s just going to be a very tough year.”

With the need for supplies spanning all grades at this point, Barber anticipates demand to grow over the coming weeks.

“We are seeing a little bit of an increase in demand and I would guess we’re going to see that increase over the next couple weeks with people just getting prepared for returning to school,” says Barber. “This is a community-driven program and a donation-driven program, so we are really only going to be able to help the number of people based on the donations we receive. It’s strange times, but even if people can donate a little bit or a few supplies, then if we all do a little bit, then we’re going to be able to help the people that really need it.”