The COVID-19 pandemic is making things tougher for Calgary families struggling to cover the many costs of getting their kids ready for the new school year.
A local charity is appealing for help as it tries to ease the burden during these tough times.
The Owen Hart Foundation is preparing for its annual Backpack Giveaway, an event that provides backpacks containing schools supplies, dental hygiene items and stuffed animals.
“We had such a huge problem before COVID even started,” founder Martha Hart said. “And now, because of COVID, people have lost their jobs and they are in such dire need of assistance.”
Most of the backpacks will be given to struggling families at the foundation’s main giveaway event on Saturday, Aug. 28 at the Trapped Escape Room in northwest Calgary.
“It helps a lot because I am not working,” Gina Lavarias said. “I’m a full-time mom and just my husband works.”
“It’s good help for our family,” another mother, Cynthia Bacay, said.
The effort has grown so much since it started in 2018, handing out 150 backpacks then, up to almost 700 this year.
“We could literally give thousands of backpacks away because there’s such a need in our city,” Hart said.
The foundation is asking for help in meeting one part of that need.
“The one thing that we always run out of is stuffed animals. We need a couple of hundred still,” Hart said. “So we’re putting out a plea to the community to please come and drop stuffed animals off at Trapped Escape Room (at 1139 Kensington Road NW).”
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