Backpacks and supplies ready to kickstart a new school year

By Sharon McCully It was a hot and muggy morning in a room without air conditioning at Alexander Galt, but Daphne Nelson, Cheryl Graham and Janice Vaudry were on... L’article Backpacks and supplies ready to kickstart a new school year est apparu en premier sur Sherbrooke Record .

By Sharon McCully It was a hot and muggy morning in a room without air conditioning at Alexander Galt, but Daphne Nelson, Cheryl Graham and Janice Vaudry were on a mission with a tight schedule. They had to sort and assemble more than 150 backpacks and supply bags to be handed out at the beginning of the new school year to students at Alexander Galt and Lennoxville Elementary School. Each bag of supplies had to correspond to the supply list provided by the school for the particular grade level.

All of it had to be done before school staff left on summer break and supplies for Lennoxville Elementary had to be transported and stored there for the summer. Thanks to the superb shopping and organizational skills of volunteer Cheryl Graham, supplies are purchased throughout the year, stored and colour coded in a storage room to facilitate easy access. Over the past decade, the five-member committee has provided more than $100,000 in supplies and services as well as hundreds of volunteer hours devoted to shopping for bargains, updating lists, replenishing supplies and reaching out to donors and sponsors.

In the wake of budget cuts to educational services, the committee has stepped up its offerings in recent years to support needs expressed by schools and teachers to enhance the learning experience equally for all students. The small independent backpack committee was formed in 2015 to ensure children in the community attending Lennoxville Elementary School , Alexander Galt Regional High School and students from community schools attending Alexander Galt for the first time, have the necessary schools supplies, and an equal opportunity to succeed in school, regardless of their means. ...

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