MyCityCare is supporting local families by giving them school essentials through the Stuff the Bus campaign.
MyCityCare was launched six years ago to support needs in communities across Alberta. The organization saw a need for a back to school program which is when the Stuff the Bus campaign began.
The organization started the program in Lethbridge and then brought it to Okotoks, filling backpacks with school supplies. It started with 30 backpacks, gradually increased to 70 and then after COVID hit, jumped to 300 in 2020. This year, over 350 students need help.
“Families can register for free of charge. And they will give us the grade that their kid is going into. And we show backpacks with school supplies for that age group. And they just schedule a time with us to come pick them up, and they get a backpack full of school supplies. And the school supplies are all brand new,” said Lorna Jewer, a volunteer at MyCityCare.
“With the backpack program, when families come to pick up their backpacks, we allow them to shop at the free clothing shop as well. This year they'll be picking up their backpacks, they'll be picking up a snack bag for the kids and then can go over to our free clothing shop and get the kids back to school clothing as well,” said Jewer.
The program takes stress off parents so they don’t have to choose between basic essentials such as food and sending their children to school with the necessary supplies.
“So each backpack, like most families know, costs around $100 to buy school supplies per child. So that's a huge cost to families who are trying to make ends meet. We're trying to raise funds to be able to buy the school supplies to fill those backpacks. We try to do it really affordably. You can sponsor students for around $30,” said Katie Burrell, director of MyCityCare Okotoks.
People can get involved to support families that are in need of help. MyCityCare has lots of volunteer opportunities by emailing [email protected]. Donations can also be made at the Staples location in Okotoks.
“So people can go in there (Staples) to the cash register, they can donate straight to us or they can drop off school supplies to different drop off locations across town which is Built Strong, Loop Kids consignment and Foothills Cleaners,” said Burrell.
For more information and to register for the campaign, visit https://parallelchurch.com/programs/mycitycare/.
