Parker Street Food Bank sees school supply requests jump

Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank is trying to gather enough donations to outfit more than 1,000 children for school.

"That's a big jump," client services co-ordinatorCynthia Louis said.

"That's like 36 per cent compared to last year, so it's a huge jump."

Last week, the food bank appealed to the public for school supply donations. Since then, it's seen other families in need come forward.

The food bank has received enough donated items to fill just 600 backpacks, Louis said. Nowthe food bank is putting students on a waiting list for supplies.

Teens in need

The food bank needs supplies for older students the most, she said.

"With high school students, that would be the age where some of them might want to drop out of school," Louis said.

"Wedon't want to give them a reason to."

Louis estimated it costs about $80-100 to outfit an elementary student for school, and twice that for teenagers.

What's needed:

• Gender neutral backpacks.
• Calculators.
• Dictionaries.
• Spiral notebooks.
• Loose leaf paper.
• Pens and pencils.
• French-English dictionaries.

Parker Street Food and Furniture Bankis accepting donations from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Sunday.Donations will be distributed to clients the following Tuesday.