Volunteers help low income students

We all know going back to school isn’t cheap these days.  And that can add to another level of anxiety for parents.  Because buying the supplies to send your kids back ready to learn can be more money than some people can afford.

As Cindy Csordas reports, volunteers are stepping up their efforts to try and help out.
Curtis McGill will go to senior kindergarten sporting a brand new backpack thanks to a little help from strangers.
“How do you feel about your backpack? I feel better.”

Curtis’s grandmother Barbara Teichmann is raising Curtis and his older brother.

“When you live on a fixed income it’s always very hard to get ready for school. Trying to get the money together to make sure they have enough for lunches and breakfasts. It does cost quite a bit when going back to school.”

Over at Mission Services in Hamilton there are slim pickings.

We just got a couple binders left and that’s it.

Community Services Director, Victor Cyr says eighteen thousand people in Hamilton visit a food bank every month and it’s likely many of those people have children going to school.

“We have received numerous calls in recent days of people asking for assistance in that capacity. Unfortunately, due to budgetary constraints we can’t provide that kind of aid.”

Mission Services hopes that by providing back to school clothes and shoes, families will have more money to spend on school supplies. Mission Services says that’s why it’s important for people to donate, like these volunteers over at ArcelorMittal Dofasco who raised enough money to pack supplies in to 419 back packs. They’ll be given to kids who need them.

“This is really about awareness. The need is still there so we’ve made a small dent in an otherwise great need in the community.”

And it looks like reaching out has already impacted five-year old Curtis.

“I’m gonna give the backpack to my friends. You going to share some of your stuff? Ya.”

Mission Services says they welcome donated school supplies. They say one in five families live under the poverty line here in Hamilton and when you add up the cost of school supplies, uniforms and food, families often have to cut somewhere.