United Way Alberta Northwest collecting donations for Tools 4 School campaign, photo courtesy United Way Alberta Northwest Facebook

By Erika Rolling

Community

School supplies and backpacks wanted for Tools 4 School

Aug 23, 2023 | 11:16 AM

Over 1,200 students across northwestern Alberta are on United Way Alberta Northwest’s request list for backpacks filled with school supplies to start the academic year.

The non-profit’s Tools 4 School campaign runs until Thursday, August 24.

Donations are being collected at Grande Prairie’s Staples, Centre 2000 until Thursday morning, and monetarily online with no cut-off date.

United Way Alberta Northwest’s Executive Director Tracy Zuk says last year they packed 975 backpacks for 25 schools/local agencies.

“It’s definitely become more popular around the region as well… there’s definitely an increase this year for sure.”

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Zuk says this year there are 1,235 students asking for United Way’s help.

The non-profit notes the greatest asks came from Grades 1-3 for supply requests in 2022, but the need was great across all grade levels across their region.

“These backpacks are going as far as Manning, Slave Lake, and the whole Grande Prairie region.”

The non-profit says as of Wednesday; 2 inch, unused binders in any colour are desperately needed to fill backpacks, as well as:

• Exercise books
• Markers/pencil crayons
• Looseleaf/graph paper
• Duotangs
• Dividers
• Large glue sticks
• White erasers
• Scissors
• Pencil boxes
• Whiteboard markers
• Notebooks