Holy Rosary Conference, Burlington

SSVP Holy Rosary Burlington partnered with the Aldershot Hub and Holy Rosary School to get new backpacks and supplies to children in our Community! Approximately 55 backpacks were collected with school supplies donated to fill our packs.

Elske De Visch Eybergen
Holy Rosary Burlington

Mary Mother of God Conference, Oakville

With the help of our generous congregation, we were able to pack 134 back packs with school supplies. In this number, 10 bags were packed for the 2 affiliated schools in anticipation of children arriving at school with no supplies ( as happens every year.....) We work closely with the schools for client referrals, so in these cases, the schools will make the parents aware that they can contact SSVP for additional support, if needed.

The parents fill out a Back Pack Wish list form per child. We type these up on colourful cards and ask the parishioners to sponsor a child and return the back pack with the card attached.

We had volunteers standing by the back to school back pack display before and after the masses on 3 week-ends and our Priest supportively made announcements about the programs.
We also asked for donations towards the purchase of school snacks.
We picked up 25 different book titles from First Books Canada as part of the program.
We also handed out 23 RESP congratulatory certificates.

To go back one step, we held our 2nd annual back to school shoe shopping at Walmart on Saturday, August 24. The children need 2 pairs of shoes, and indoor and outdoor pair, and we rarely receive 'nice' shoes during our clothing drives, as they wear out so fast, so shoes are a void. The clients signed up in time slots and then then came so the children could pick up a new pair of shoes ( up to a maximum value of $ 25). We had volunteers on hand and Walmart arranged for extra staff to help the clients with their shopping and then we paid for the purchase at the check out.

On Tuesday, August 27, we had the clients come from 9:00 to 12:00 or from 5:00 to 7:00 to pick up their items.

What a wonderful event to know that the children are all set for back to school. A number of the volunteers had baked treats so the families were able to sit and enjoy the baking and have a chat. The children had so much fun picking out brand new beautiful books and many sat at the tables to read them.

The children for whom RESP accounts have been set up enjoyed receiving their beautiful certificates and you could see the pride in the parent's faces. We also made sure to include words of encouragement and support for the parents that are still working through the steps.

We will not stop our follow up efforts until each child receives the post secondary funds to which they are entitled.
They then picked up their brand new back packs filled with supplies and their bag of school snacks.

It is hard to convey how wonderful the event was, knowing that the children are all set for school, but will share a few moments with you. One little boy just loves his new shoes so much that the mom has found it hard to talk him into taking them off. One mom shared that her daughter had been counting down the 'number of sleeps' until she could come to pick up her back pack. Another girl shared that she was so disappointed when she found out Monday was a holiday, because it meant she had to wait one more day to get back to school. And a grade 9 student proudly showed off her new High School student card she had just received at her school orientation.

Linda Alexander
SSVP Mary Mother of God, Oakville