Northeastern Ontario charities working to address growing need for back-to-school help

Charities across northeastern Ontario have been stuffing backpacks with school supplies and holding charity golf tournaments to raise money for running shoes.

It's all so that children heading back to school this week have the resources they need as the rising cost of living makes it harder for parents to afford the essentials.

Residents of the Pathways Retirement residence in Sault Ste. Marie raised money and solicited contributions last month for 50 backpacks full of school supplies and packaged them up for the United Way's Backpacks for Success Program doubling last year's contribution of 25.

"We understand that families are probably struggling," said Stephanie Whitaker, the activities coordinator at the home.

"Since COVID, groceries have skyrocketed, you know? They have to buy the back-to-school clothes, the shoes indoor and outdoor winter boots."

Many of the residents at Pathways Retirement recall their own struggles as parents, she said, so they were thrilled to take part. Their visiting family members often went shopping for the necessary items from a list provided by the United Way about $50 worth of school supplies per backpack.

Need has increased

It was a great way to connect residents with younger generations, Whitaker said.

The United Way of Sault Ste. Marie's Backpacks for Success program launched last year, handing out 105 backpacks, said executive director Lori Huston.

This year, they filled 305.

United Way distributes the backpacks to school boards and community partners such as Pauline's Place and the Indigenous friendship centre.

The initiative has grown since year one, Huston said but so has the need.

The school boards provide the charity with an estimated number of needed backpacks, and that number grew, she said.

"There's definitely increasing challenges that make it difficult for families to meet basic needs," she added.

In Sudbury, Our Children Our Future has partnered once again with Golf Marathon Sudbury an annual, day-long fundraising golf-a-thon to deliver backpacks stuffed with indoor running shoes to 100 children in need.

The gifts will allow children whose families can't afford athletic shoes to participate in physical education classes and school sports, said Lynne Ethier, the manager of fundraising and community engagement.

'Sad to see ... how much the need grows'

"The smiles and the feedback is amazing," Ethier said of the moment when she delivers the prized footwear.

"It's so rewarding, and the children are extremely excited to start school with these new running shoes."

Ethier called it "a beautiful moment that [she gets]to experience 100 times over each year," but she said the 100 backpacks don'tcome close to meeting the need.

"My guess is it would be hundreds," she said, when asked how many pairs of shoes it would take to supply every child that needed them.

"It's really sad to see each year how much the need grows. It just seems to be more and more need as the costs of going back to school keep going up."

The secretary of the Sudbury Charities Foundation, which raises money for children's charities, echoed Ethier's sentiment, saying more families are struggling and more children are impacted.

"There's a lot of new families as well that immigrated to Canada, and they're coming here having nothing," Claude Charbonneau said.

"They're arriving with a very important need for food security but even a wellness closet, hygiene, sanitary products, things like that."

They also need warm clothes for their first northern Ontario winter, he added.

School nutrition programs are also struggling to provide the level of service they once did given the increased cost of food and demands to do more with less such as when they receive new sanitation guidelines.

"When we have frank conversations with our partners and we ask them about where they're at, they're very thankful, of course, for what we're providing, but they're generally able to only go so far with it," Charbonneau said.

"To maintain the same services, we need more money, never mind growing the services or growing the access for folks."