Regina woman’s good deed eases back-to-school stress for parents in need

For more than 100 parents in Regina, the pressure to find money to pay for school supplies can be stressful.

It’s thanks to Amanda McCall that burden is taken care of.

McCall, a resident in the Mount Royal area started collecting backpacks, pens, binders, crayons, lunch kits — just about everything a child would need to start the school year right for those in need.

McCall took to Facebook to request donations and soon enough, she had strangers dropping stationery at her door. She received unexpected packages on her front steps. She believes more than 75 different people made a contribution.

“It was heartwarming. I’ve never seen so many people come together to help kids in need,” McCall said. “We started out wanting to make 100 backpacks and we kind of thought it was an unreal expectation, but we were easily able to put together 100 with a complete school supply list.”

A mother of three daughters, McCall knows that back to school is a pricey occasion. Her shopping list usually exceeds $200 even before getting to the new wardrobe.

She knows many people have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 and wanted to ease the anxiety families might be having about money.

For her, the most gratifying part was seeing how relieved the parents were.

“We have people that want to hug us, that are just very grateful, and little kids that are kind of shy,” McCall said.

“I have a lot of people personally reach out to me on Facebook that have a story. And I say, ‘You don’t have to have a story. You just have to come and meet us and take a backpack and that’s it.’”

McCall launched her project to teach her children about empathy and to make them aware of others less fortunate.

After a basement flood, the donations were scattered across the living room floor as they spent a few days packing the bags. Then they distributed them as a family.

“The kids love to help out. They definitely (adopted) the pay-it-forward attitude,” she said.

“For example, when we’re out at Tim Hortons, if they see somebody on the corner who’s in need, they will use their allowance money to buy them a meal and a hot coffee just to make sure they’re taken care of.”