HOPE drive to help local students

Details

Published on Tuesday, August 9, 2016

By Kira Paterson

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

School may not start for another month, but NACI’s social justice group, HOPE, is already hard at work. Starting this week, boxes bearing a poster with the HOPE logo as well as a list of school supplies can be found around Neepawa at a few of the businesses. 

As the posters indicate, this latest HOPE project is a school supply drive. The supplies collected will be stored in the resource room at NACI for teachers to access when they see a need in their class. The distribution of supplies to students will be in a confidential manner, so they don’t feel embarrassed about not being able to afford their own. The group expects the supplies to last the first week or two of school, just to get students in need started. 

“The biggest thing we’d like to get out is that for families or people who can purchase a little extra, it can help those who struggle to buy the required supplies in the fall,” explained Michelle Young, teacher at NACI and HOPE group leader. She also stressed that this isn’t a service they want families to expect to rely on, especially if the family can afford their own supplies. 

“If we end up with an abundance, we will see if other schools in our catchment area could use some, such as HMK, Brookdale or JM Young. But for now, it’s for NACI senior and middle years students,” Young noted. 

This is the first year they’ve tried this project and they got the idea from seeing similar drives done in other cities. The boxes are at Red Apple, Giant Tiger, Your Dollar Store With More, Harris Pharmacy and Neepawa Pharmacy. They will be remaining at those stores until school starts, so don’t forget to donate before September rolls around!