THUNDER BAY – Not every student in Thunder Bay goes to class with the proper supplies.
On Monday representatives from Staples stepped up to help alleviate the situation, donating a total of 280 backpacks stocked with pencil crayons and pencils, binders and paper and other school necessities to students at Sherbrooke Public and St. Paul schools.
It’s fantastic, said eight-year-old Avery Martin.
“Some people don’t have backpacks and it’s really amazing that people can donate,” she said on Monday.
The youngster, a Grade 3 student at St. Paul School, said she was pleased with what she found inside after her class was called up.
“I didn’t have any pencil crayons, so I’m excited about that.”
Schoolmate Even Kashak, 10, said it’s a great gift for each and every student at the two schools.
“I think it’s really great (they) provided us with lots of these backpacks. It can help other kids have backpacks and school supplies,” he said.
The program has been in place for a number of years at Staples, but they were able to double their efforts in 2017 thanks to the help of a number of corporate sponsors.
Pasquale Coccimiglio, general manager at the Thunder Bay Staples location, said it’s easy to forget that not every child and family can afford the necessary school supplies.
This is his company’s way of giving back, Coccimiglio said.
“They can get kind of expensive. With the help of a lot of our community partners, including the Kiwanis Club of Thunder Bay, St. Thomas Anglican, St. John Ambulance and all the others that were here today – Acadia Broadcasting came on in a very big way – and we were able to double last year’s result,” Coccimiglio said.
St. Paul Principal Dorothy Basaraba said she had no idea her school would be taking part in the program until she got a call last week.
It’s the head start students need, she said.
“It helps keep them organized on a day-to-day basis if they have their pack-sack and all the necessary tools,” Basaraba said.
