Backpack program is back at United Way Kingston

It is the middle of summer, but back to school is on the minds of those at United Way Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.

It’s launching its backpack program, raising donations and taking new school supplies to fill backpacks to give to those who need them to be successful in class. 

Backpacks are filled with new school supplies like paper, pens and erasers and given to students who could use them for free.

Kim Hockey is the United Way community impact senior director and says any student can get one, all the way up to Grade 12.

"We want to ensure it's a very inclusive program. So going into high school you might not need a lunch pail, but you certainly need a scientific calculator and those items can be really expensive," she explains.

The cost of every day items continues to climb, and that includes school supplies. 

Hockey says this program is needed now more than ever. In 2020, it gave out 1,300 backpacks, while this year they expect to give out 2,000.

Backpacks, lunch bags, pens, pencils, rulers, math sets, markers, crayons, scientific calculators, pencil cases – are supplies that are always needed. Hockey says they need a wide variety of things for students, the bought items should be new and gender-neutral colours are encouraged, to make sorting and distribution easier.

Shawn Quigley is the executive director for Youth Diversion, and works with at-risk youth. He connects kids with the United Way backpack program, and says for a kid on their first day of class a backpack filled with supplies can be a powerful thing.

"It’s like a right of passage for students you know you go out with your family, you buy new clothes, you buy new school supplies," he says. "But for a lot of kids in our community, these are luxuries they can’t afford."

He says inflation is causing some parents to struggle

"There priorities are such that, school supplies are just not there. I need to focus on keeping us housed, keeping us clothed, and keeping us fed, so that’s where they’re coming to us for these small things," he says.

Quigley says those who don’t have a supportive home life also ask for the bags. 

"They don’t know where they’re going to sleep tomorrow, but they know they can get themselves ready for school."

Online donations can be made, and for those in the Kingston area, physical supplies can be dropped off in person at 417 Bagot St. Donations will be taken for the next few weeks, and given out ahead of the school year.

"We want to do the best we can to ensure that no body is struggling," says Hockey.