Stephen’s Backpacks Society (SBS) is hard at work once again to ensure Airdrie students have the supplies they need to put their best foot forward this school year.
“It’s been very busy,” said Nancy McPhee, the executive director and mother to Stephen McPhee, the charity’s namesake – who dreamed of the premise for the foundation at the age of five.
SBS was established in 2006, after Stephen expressed to his parents a desire to help children in need. Since then, the McPhees – along with numerous volunteers – have worked each year to provide backpacks filled with school supplies, hygiene items, footwear and toys to the young students that need them the most.
With this year’s contributions, McPhee said SBS has donated 80,000 backpacks to children in need since it’s inception.
While the annual backpacks campaign is typically a huge endeavour, McPhee explained the resurgence of COVID-19 cases and the spread of the Delta variant currently causing a spike in cases Alberta-wide forced SBS to make the difficult decision not to allow volunteers inside their basement warehouse once again this year. That means that there are far fewer helping hands doing the work.
As families continue to be impacted financially by the pandemic, she added the need for the services provided by SBS are “without a doubt” higher this school year. According to McPhee, the charity has even started a waiting list for organizations requesting assistance so that demand can be better managed.
“I don’t want to make a promise and not be able to deliver, but we are going to try our best,” she said.
In order to organize supplies and donations as well as pack and coordinate without the lending hands of volunteers, the McPhee family has been working very long hours.
But, McPhee said the effort is very much worth it.
“It’s just the sense that you make a difference where you can,” she said. “We’re not even thinking numbers this year, we’re just going to help as many kids as we can.”
McPhee explained the motivation to excel in their services this year was fuelled by compassion for those who lost a loved one to COVID-19. McPhee lost her husband and Stephen’s father in 2017 and said there is so much stress and grief that come with the death of a family member.
“Families have so much to cope with right now […] the last thing they’re thinking about is money for school supplies,” she said. “There’s so much hurt out there right now, we just want to alleviate some of that pressure for those families.”
McPhee said the society is also in the process of securing a home to donate and furnish to a family in need this fall – something they have done previously through their Project Hope program.
She also wanted to extend a thanks to everyone that has donated or volunteered throughout SBS’s 15 years of operation.
“We have so much support, which is really nice – that people are pulling together to help us help even more kids this year,” McPhee said.
For those who would like to help, the best way to get involved in SBS’ campaign is to “build a backpack” on the society’s website, according to McPhee. The actual retail price from the manufacturer is listed, and contributors are able to see exactly what their money is paying for.
To learn more about SBS, donate, or build a backpack, visit stephensbackpacks.com
Lauryn Heintz, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @LaurynHeintz
