There are only a few weeks left before back to school shopping gets underway, and for some, it's a very stressful time.
Chatham-Kent's United Way is looking to help relieve some of that stress for families through operation backpack.
Coordinator Mary Symons says operation backpack is a community-lead program for parents to receive a backpack full of supplies for their child(ren).
She says in order to receive a backpack, parents don't need to necessarily qualify, but they do need to give information about the child so that they are able to cater to the child's needs, in terms of providing proper school supplies.
"By the time you get to about grade five or six it really starts to shift in the supplies [needed]," says Symons. "If you're not getting the right backpack you're not looking at having the proper supplies."
Symons says there is no specific age group that is eligible to receive backpacks but they tend to be given more to those in grade school.
She says two of their major suppliers for this program are Staples and Giant Tiger but there are other contributors as well.
"We have backpacks that are donated from individuals, other businesses and organizations in the community," says Symons. "We have groups that come together and do a little group activity to help us pack the backpacks and organize."
Symons says they always help a child in need, but are looking to get an estimate on how many backpacks are needed by August 25 at the latest.
Last year, the program handed out 1,320 backpacks and Symons says they're hoping to increase that to around 1,400 this time around.
More information about the program can be found here.
With files from Cheryl Johnstone
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