St. Albert police hope the public will help them pack a cop car with tools for school on Aug. 14.
St. Albert RCMP members will be at the St. Albert Walmart (700 St. Albert Trail) this Thursday for a back-to-school stuff-a-cruiser event. The fundraiser aims to collect school supplies and gift cards for students in need.
While the St. Albert RCMP has stuffed cop cars with donated gifts and groceries in the past, Cst. MJ Burroughs said this was the first time the detachment has tried to do so with school supplies.
“Hopefully we can get [the car] stuffed to the roof.”
St. Albert RCMP Cst. Rachel Glendenning said she got the idea for this fundraiser after hearing how St. Albert school boards often bought school supplies for students who couldn’t afford them. She thought a stuff-a-cruiser fundraiser could help.
“We have more kids in need in town than people realize,” she said.
Glendenning said she and other officers will be at the Walmart Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to collect donations of new school supplies, gift cards, and gently used binders. She was particularly interested in leftovers from those “start of school” bags many students get in September. She hoped to fill one or more cruisers with school supplies to distribute to St. Albert’s four school boards.
Anyone who misses the event can donate school supplies directly to their local schools, Glendenning said.
Most students need about $150 to $200 worth of pens, papers, and other supplies at the start of the year, not including big-ticket items such as indoor shoes or graphing calculators, said Suzan Krecsy, executive director of the St. Albert Food Bank and Community Village.
“School supplies are expensive, and if you’ve got three or four kids, it’s a huge burden.”
Krecsy said the food bank collects school supplies year-round to put students-in-need on a level playing field with their peers. This Aug. 16 from 9 a.m. to noon, they will distribute up to 300 backpacks of supplies to students as part of their annual Tools for School program. Interested families should email [email protected] for details.
