The Salvation Army in Weyburn Helps Students Get the School Supplies They Need

As we get into August, parents and students begin to shift their attention to back-to-school preparations. While for some families back-to-school shopping is simply routine, for others their financial situation may make shopping for school supplies a little tougher.

The Salvation Army is gearing up to help vulnerable families across the country, with various programs intended to help students get all the school supplies they need before September.

In Weyburn, Sask., The Salvation Army has been running a back-to-school program for several years, in cooperation with the local School Start Program, and with the support of a dedicated sponsor.

“This year we are ordering our supplies straight from a School Start Program,” said Community Ministries Coordinator Nicole Strickland.

The way this works is, the sponsor, Bree Patterson, from Royal LePage, funds the supplies, while The Salvation Army orders these supplies from the School Start website, based on the need of the families that signed up. After the supplies come straight to the Army, staff and volunteers put together green bags filled with school supplies and these are given to the respective students.

This year it will be the first time The Salvation Army takes care of the preparation of the actual bags.

“They did it a little bit differently in the past. Last year, this particular sponsor bought everything from backpacks to headphones, to water bottles, everything. Then she organized these, and the parents would just come to The Salvation Army to pick up the bags. However, that was a heavy workload for her, so we’re doing it this way instead this year,” Nicole added.

“Participants of this program are going to have the same school supplies. To me that is important.”

To ensure the right supplies are bought, local schools do their part by posting back-to-school shopping lists online. This also ensures students will have the same supplies.

“Participants of this program are going to have the same school supplies. Nobody is going to know whether their parents bought them, or whether they got them from The Salvation Army. And to me that is important,” Nicole said.

Last year this program helped approximately 80 students across Weyburn. Nicole says that a lot of the families that have signed up are newcomers to Canada, so the number of students helped this year could increase.

This program is open to anyone. The deadline to sign up was Aug. 1. However, Nicole says no one is ever turned down.

“We’re going to have people that come in at the last minute, that may have not known about the program before, so we like to have extra supplies.”

“For anybody that has unused extra school supplies, we just want to say that we are always welcome to receive them. We’re going to have people that come in at the last minute, that may have not known about the program before, so we like to have extra supplies,” she said.

Nicole would also like to thank Bree for her support as a sponsor throughout the years.

“I just want to again thank our sponsor, for the fact that she has taken part in this so many years in a row and keeps doing it.”

By Juan Romero