Families in need getting care packages from Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation

Hundreds of families in need in Saskatoon will be receiving special care packages jammed full of food and books before the February break.

On Wednesday, a delivery of the Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation’s Canpotex Cheer Crates was assembled with help from the 38 Combat Engineer Regiment at Saskatoon’s Sgt. Hugh Cairns VC Armoury.

(Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)

Zeba Ahmad, the foundation’s CEO, said almost 800 crates will be provided to families with children attending Saskatoon Public Schools.

“We try to do this before the school break so that families have activity items, books, toothbrushes, and lots of healthy food,” she said.

Bread, milk, eggs, muffins and pancake mix will also be included in the packages, Ahmad said. Saskatoon Co-op is also providing gift cards, which Ahmad said are are given out to larger families.

“For a lot of these families, this is the only opportunity for nourishing food,” Ahmad said. “A lot of families don’t get to have dairy.”

Teachers help identify families that would benefit from the crates, Ahmad said, and the number has grown as they saw more families in need.

The initiative was started in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a way to help struggling families. Since then, almost 6,000 of the crates have been given out to families around the city.

“We just try to provide as much support as we can,” Ahmad said, noting that Canpotex will be covering the food costs for the crates for the next three years.

With rising inflation, Ahmad said there are still many families in need throughout the entire city.

“We’re all feeling the pinch of the post-pandemic and the cost of groceries,” she said.

Ahmad said the foundation has received many grateful messages from parents and grandparents since the campaign started.

“It’s so heartwarming,” she said.