SUMMERSIDE – Some local children will soon have all the supplies they'll need for the coming school year.
The Summerside YMCA's Y's Kids Equipped to Learn program has collected enough material to fill 179 bags this year for families in need.
Although donations and the number of kits are down this year, campaign chair Fred Biason said that doesn't necessarily mean more families are in better financial situations.
"We have, in the past, done up to 250 school supply kits," he said. "I had been watching the numbers go down over several years. The highest we did was 258... but last year, when they introduced kindergarten (into the school system) we got a big jump again. People are having less children over the course of the years."
Income Support and Child and Family Services identify families that receive kits each year. The YMCA delivers the kits to the offices and not the individual families to keep the program confidential.
The Atlantic Superstore donated 100 bags to the program this year.
Volunteers will be organizing the supplies Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Trinity United Church, then assembling the kits at 6 p.m. Volunteers are still needed to help on that day, and on Thursday when the bags are delivered to the Income Support and Child and Family Services offices.
Biason said the program might have a surplus of funds for next year because of the lower demand for kits.
"If we'd had to do 225, what we set our goal for, we would've been short $3,000 or $4,000 in our fundraising," he said. "Because we only had 179 (kits), we're going to be a little bit over."
