Shopping for school supplies fills most children with emotion – excitement for going back to class, sadness for a summer nearing its end – but for 12-year-old Victoria Allin, the experience made her think of others.
What do kids do when their parents can’t afford the binders, pencil cases and pens required for the coming year?
She and her mother, Breanne, who works at Emmerson Lumber, talked about the realities of shopping for many local families and Victoria came up with an idea.
During the summer, she would fundraise for others’ school supplies.
“She likes helping others, she just doesn’t like getting credit for it,” says Breanne on Aug. 17, when staff from Bell Aliant came to Emmerson Lumber to personally thank the Grade 7 student.
Bell Aliant runs Backpacks for Kids in the Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario, delivering thousands of backpacks.
Victoria collected money at her mother’s workplace and Village Donuts for two months, eventually raising $300.
Emmerson Lumber owner Kim Emmerson decided to top that amount up to $500 – enough to buy 22 backpacks for Haliburton children.
“It’s amazing to see a young person without adult persuasion [take initiative],” Emmerson said.
Liz Boxall and Jim Winn of Bell Aliant came to meet Victoria and thank her for the money.
The backpacks are given to Point In Time Centre for Children Youth and Parents. They then distribute them to the kids who need help the most.