REGINA — For the past 15 years, the Salvation Army Regina Community Church has provided thousands of school supplies to children through its backpack program.
Although the program has seen significant success, donations have stalled at 55 per cent of the overall fundraising target.
“We’ve been really facing a decline in donations this year. I think families who are struggling to provide their own resources are backing out in terms of helping out,” explained Tim Fraser, corps officer with the Salvation Army Regina Community Church.
More than 1,300 students have applied for this year’s program, including children from low-income families and families with as many as six children.
The types of backpacks and school supplies distributed depend on which school each student attends.
“We go to the schools, get their supply lists and use those to build the backpacks. That way, the kids get exactly what they need rather than just a generic set of supplies. They’ll receive a backpack along with the specific supplies they need for school,” said Fraser.
Depending on the supplies needed, one student’s backpack could cost upward of $100. Fraser said the cost of school supplies has also increased by 15 to 20 per cent over the past two years.
To help fund the backpack program, the church sets aside money raised during its Christmas campaign.
“We always plan to budget to take some money that we raise at Christmas time to go towards our backpack program.”
However, Fraser said the amount of money raised last year was lower than expected.
“It was on par with what we received in previous years. So we were optimistic. We set our goal higher than what we thought. Realistically, we probably could have brought in more, but still hit exactly what we needed on our own end.”
Children will still receive their school supplies, as the church has received donations and ordered additional supplies, but there could be risks to the organization’s other services if the fundraising target is not met.
“It could mean we adjust everything, from our community lunches to our Saturday night meal programming, having to reduce the number of meals that we can provide on a daily or nightly basis because we have to make up the money somehow,” noted Fraser.
Anyone interested in helping out is encouraged to donate money.
A $60 donation can fill one backpack for a student, while $500 can support 12 students, $1,000 can supply an entire classroom of 25 students and $2,500 can equip a school bus full of students with backpacks and school supplies.
Looking to the future, Fraser said the program may have to scale back.
“If we don’t make the funds that we need, it is something that we’re going to have to consider next year.”
But if that were to happen, Fraser hopes other organizations can come together for a community-based registration process.
“So all the backpack organizations come together and say, ‘This is how many registrations we can support.’ Whether that means us facilitating those registrations, if needed to make it work, we’re happy to do that.”
