Free Store in Summerside overwhelmed by large donation from Island man

Belinda Woods, who runs the Free Store in Summerside, said she's overwhelmed by a generous donation to the store of between $5,000 and $6,000.

The store, which provides free items donated from the community, has been working to put aside as many donations as possible for its back-to-school event set for next week.

Earlier this week, Woods said staff were shocked to realizehow few items hadbeen donated for boys."I couldn't believe it because I know we were really worried," Woods said.

The large donation comes after Woods put out a Facebook "plea" to make the community aware of the urgent need.

An Island man, who has asked to remain anonymous,contacted Woods and offered the substantial donation.

The pair expect to go on a shopping trip to purchase more items for boys in the communitynext Thursday.

New clothes

Woods expects they'llbuy about 100 pairs of pants, 100 shirts, 50 pairs of shoes, 50 jackets, and 100 pairs of socks.

"It's going to be a lot of boys who are going to be having brand new clothes for back to school," she said.

Yeah, that just blew me out of the water. This was amazing.Belinda Woods

She's asking parents in the community to contact the Free Store Facebook page to let her know what sizes they may need and to arrange times for them to come in.

"Yeah, that just blew me out of the water. This was amazing," she said.

Woods has organized a two-hour event set forAug.24where staff will distribute the new clothes.

That is in addition to the back-to-school event set to take place on Aug. 20, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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