Leslie Lee was stunned when she received a call last spring asking if her students could use some backpacks filled with school supplies.
The George Jay elementary principal’s immediate response was ‘yes’ to the caller from Start to Finish, a national anti-poverty group.
“I asked for 50 or 75 and they said, ‘how about 100?’ I was amazed.”
It was the first year the non-profit organization had donated backpacks – filled with pencils, notebooks, erasers and other supplies – to the school. Packs were distributed to teachers for handing out to students from needy families during the first week of classes.
“Some families have five kids coming to school,” Lee said, adding that packs get handed out discreetly.
Six hundred other students in the Capital Region will also receive backpacks filled with school supplies, courtesy of retired and current Telus staff.
Packs were delivered to 40 schools this summer. Schools that would like to receive packs can contact Telus at ambassadors@telus.com.
vmoreau@oakbaynews.com