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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Back-to-school time can be stressful for any family but for the many Yellowknife families who are struggling to make ends meet financially, fall can be especially challenging.

Michelle Handley, left, general manager Richard LaRoche and Eva Richardson show off some school supplies at the Yellowknife Staples store Monday. - Laura Busch/NNSL photo

"The fall tends to be a fairly expensive time for families," said Julie Green, director of community relations for the YWCA in Yellowknife.

"There's lots of things that they need to provide for their children on their limited budgets."

The YWCA's primary function in the city is to provide transitional housing to families as they work to pull themselves out of poverty, said Green. In the families that she works with, budgeting to buy necessities for children can be difficult at the best of times.

"Basically, their budgets don't have any slack in them," she said.

"If they're going to buy winter boots then they're going to eat more macaroni. Discretionary income is very tight."

One local retailer is working to help families bridge this gap and start their kids' school year off right. The Staples School Supply Drive kicked off July 29 and the store will be asking customers to consider kids in need by contributing either money or back-to-school supplies to the cause.

"What we're looking to do is to raise funds to help the children in Yellowknife with their school supplies," said Richard LaRoche, general manager at Yellowknife's Staples store.

"Our customers are donating as of now and we'll also be holding some events."

No schedule has been set as of yet for when these events will be held, but customers are being asked during checkout to donate to the drive, said LaRoche. Otherwise, customers are welcome to purchase back-to-school items and add them to a bin that will be made available near the checkout counters.

"We want the most benefits going to the actual kids," said Michelle Handley, sales manager at Yellowknife's Staples store.

Handley has first-hand experience with the difficulties of being able to afford the necessary equipment to send a child off to school for another year.

"I was a single mom for many years and school supplies are a big hit at this time of year," she said.

"They are quite expensive so it's absolutely going to be great for any families who are in need."

While it's difficult to come up with an exact number of how many families are in financial need in Yellowknife, Green estimated there were 350 to 400 families living at or below the poverty line within the community.

"Getting kids set up to succeed at school is probably the best thing that you can do for them after they have someplace to live and something to eat," said Green.

"I think that all of us want to see children educated to the highest possible grade so that they are able to move on, out of the poverty trap, into work that pays and into more meaningful undertakings than just scrambling out of poverty.

"I'm a believer that education makes a big difference, so if we send kids to school with everything they need to write, draw, read, do math - whatever it is - it will make a big difference to them with feeling comfortable in school and succeeding at school."

One hundred per cent of funds and items raised during this year's Staples School Supply Drive will stay within Yellowknife, said LaRoche.

Families who are interested in getting their children on the list for school supplies should contact Green at the YWCA.

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