A two-day barbecue outside of the Staples store in Sarnia during the upcoming long weekend will help ensure many local youngsters have supplies they need to start school.
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The Staples-Kiwanis Back to School Supply Drive Barbecue is a long-standing tradition scheduled this year for Saturday, Aug. 31 and Sunday Sept. 1, 11:30 am to 3 pm, outside the store on London Road.
“I started this back in 2003,” said local coordinator Sheila Donald, with the Sarnia-Lambton Golden Kiwanis Club.
It began with fundraiser initiated by a Kiwanis Club in the Ottawa area “and it has morphed many, many, many times to the point now it’s Ontario-wide,” Donald said.
“There is a big need out there,” she said. “I know several teachers and they pay a lot of money out of pocket to make sure the kids in their class have what they need.”
Staples said its annual school supply drive, now in its 19th year, has raised a total of $17 million so far in contributions from customers for the effort organized with the Kiwanis Foundation in Ontario and United Way Centraide in the rest of Canada.
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In-store customers can make donations at checkouts from Aug. 4 to Sept. 22 that go to the charitable partners to help children in the community.
“We know the cost of school supplies can be a financial barrier and ranks as one of the top affordability challenges for parents, according to our research conducted this past June,” Staples CEO Rachel Huckle said in a release.
“We’re looking forward to continuing this fundraising program to further support learning and growth in our communities,” she said.
Donald said Kiwanis Clubs in Sarnia, Forest and Petrolia work together on the local school supply drive.
Close to $700 typically raised annually selling hamburgers, hot dogs and pop at the two-day barbecue manned by Kiwanis Club members is added to the amount contributed by customers at the Sarnia store.
Donald said letters are sent to a number of schools in Sarnia and the rest of Lambton County, inviting them to send lists of supplies, such as backpacks and pencils, needed by pupils following the first week of classes.
“We even provided a couple of STEM robots to a school in Petrolia,” she said. “They use those little robots to help teach kids programming.”
Last year, customer contributions and the barbecue raised over $9,000 locally, and supplies were distributed to about 13 schools, she said.
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