THUNDER BAY -- A pair of Thunder Bay schools will have all the necessary supplies for this year’s school year.
The Thunder Bay Kiwanis Club and the local Staples Business Depot are giving children from Ogden Community Public School and St. Vincent School a gift of school supplies.
Staples general manager Pasquale Coccimiglio delivered a few gift cards to St. Vincent, which contained more than $2,700 for each school from funds raised during Staples’ 11th annual Back to School Supply Drive.
“Ingrained in our Staples soul is what we call the three Es - education, environment, and entrepreneurship,” Coccimiglio said Tuesday during the annoucement at St. Vincent School.
“Obviously on the education piece there tends to be an assumption that every child who attends school is able to afford school supplies.”
Coccimiglio added that this isn’t the case, it’s tough for some kids who don’t have the same school supplies as their friends do, so Staples keeps that in mind.
Every year, one school from the Public and Catholic boards are chosen as recipients.
The money his handed over and it’s the school’s choice with what to do with the money, whether they buy school supplies or technology to support learning programs within the school.
“The school principals and staff of the schools know exactly what their needs are,” Coccimiglio said.
“We don’t want to tell them what to get we prefer they make that choice that’s going to best suit the needs of the students that are most in need.”
The money was raised by the Kiwanis Club and by Staples, through a customer appreciation barbecue and by donations from the community.
Coccimiglio said locally they were able to raise $6,000 in total, with a little more than $1,000 being donated to the St. Thomas Anglican backpack program.
