THUNDER BAY – “Won’t somebody please think of the children?”
The words of the Simpsons’ Helen Lovejoy were heeded on Wednesday by the staff at Tbaytel, through the company’s Tbaytel For Good campaign, donating 100 bags filled with school supplies to students in need at both the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board and Lakehead Public Schools.
The initiative was spurred by the employees, said company spokesman Jamie Smith, standing outside the public board office.
“This is our good employees initiative and this is one that is pretty near and dear to our hearts,” Smith said.
“We really wanted to support kids going back to school. So we’ve teamed up and we’ve got a hundred or so bags that we’ve filled with pens, pencils, tape, scissors – all kinds of school supplies that might be necessary.”
A partnership also developed with The Whole Nine Yards, who made it possible to include a donated cloth mask for each student who receives a bag.
“We’ve got a really great local initiative here helping out as well,” Smith said.
A.J. Keene, superintendent of education at Lakehead Public Schools said the donation brings some normalcy to a group of children who need it in their lives.
“Kids have not had normalcy in schools in six months or more. To be able to walk into school and sit at a desk and open up a bag full of school supplies is a pretty big deal,” Keene said. “I can remember when I was a kid, school supply shopping is a pretty cool time for kids of all ages.
“A lot of our families, they just aren’t able to do that. So having this kind of a donation really levels the playing field for a lot of our families.”
It’s especially important given the economic climate in the post-COVID economy, Keene added.
“We know a lot of parents didn’t work for a long time and some still aren’t back to work, so it really does mean a lot,” he said.
Keene said the supplies will mostly be distributed at the neediest schools, and socio-economically depressed neighbourhoods.
