Salvation Army Helps Newcomer Family With Back-to-School Essentials

Maria Paravicini immigrated to Canada to attend university. Along with her husband and two children, she settled in Sydney, N.S. Like many newcomer families, they faced financial struggles.

“It was difficult for us,” Maria shares.” We had many financial challenges. As you can imagine, this is what you have to go through when you are immigrating to a new country.”

Soon after moving into their new home, the family encountered numerous expenses associated with their new lives. Maria’s husband held a part-time job, and Maria could not work due to her enrollment in university.

“At that moment, we were struggling financially in every aspect. To pay the rent, to get the food, everything,” Maria says.

The family was introduced to The Salvation Army, and Maria and her husband learned of a program that could help them tackle one of the many costs they had to encounter.

The Army’s Backpack Program helped Maria provide school supplies to her children who were in elementary school and high school.

“It was a relief!” Maria smiles. “Even though the education is free, you still need supplies, and we had a very tight budget at the time.”

She estimates this program helped her save approximately $200, which she was able to put toward other things that could help the family in the long run.

“It helped us save money. We didn’t know what was going to happen in the future and, as a student myself at the time, I needed to save the money for university fees and so on.”

Maria believes that without this program, her family would’ve had to ask for loans to be able to make it.

Today, Maria’s family is in a much better place. Both she and her husband are employed full-time and no longer require assistance from the backpack program. However, they serve as an excellent example to other families who may be facing similar struggles and could benefit from help with school supplies.

Lieutenant Jenelle Durdle from The Salvation Army in Sydney says Nova Scotia is seeing many newcomer families. She believes the backpack program can serve as a great initial help to families who have just arrived.

“There are a lot of complexities that come with settling in a new community,” Lieutenant Jenelle adds. “So this is just another service we provide that softens the landing for folks.”

The program also helps the Army connect with new families in the community, allowing the staff to offer additional assistance such as the food bank or introduce them to their church.

In the spirit of building connections, this year The Salvation Army in Sydney, hosted a barbecue on the day of the distribution of the supplies. The more than 100 families that were assisted by the backpack program were able to come out enjoy some food, and table games after receiving their school supplies.

While the cost of supplies is sometimes overlooked, the backpack program proves that aiding families with this expense can have a significant impact.

“Seeing the parents breathe a sigh of relief, or just to sense their anticipation of sharing the school supplies with their children, is really rewarding,” Lieutenant Durdle says.

By Juan Romero