West Island Mission hosts annual back-to-school event, donating backpacks to Montreal children

With another school year right around the corner, the West Island Mission hosted its annual back-to-school event on Thursday, donating backpacks to Montreal children and creating a joyful day for the community.

Registered clients and their children received backpacks filled with essential supplies to help them during the school year.

“Let’s be honest, September is a very expensive month. Public school is free, but is it really? At the end of the day, any activities, any added costs, any bus, anything, it’s an expensive month,” said Suzanne Scarrow, executive director of West Island Mission.

“Back-to-school time can be stressful for families, and our goal is to make it a joyful, worry-free day.”

Scarrow says their goal is to help children start the school year feeling confident and supported, which is crucial in helping eliminate any unwanted stress.

Families were able to enjoy a BBQ lunch and activities designed for kids of all ages. Children also had the chance to choose books from the food bank’s “used book store” and enter raffles for special prizes. Free books were provided by non-profit Literacy Unlimited, which aims to help improve reading skills among young students.

“The world we’re living in right now, we don’t have a lot of extra income,” said Literacy Unlimited executive director Julia Asselstine. “So parents and families can’t afford to buy the books for the home, and they’re super delighted to be able to give their children a brand new book to launch their new school year.”

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“School supplies has never been something that we thought of as being difficult,” said borough mayor of Pierrefonds-Roxboro Jim Beis. “We find ourselves now in a situation where not only can’t they buy food for themselves and rely on institutions like this, but now have branched into the school supplies.”

Asselstine explained that children who have books in the home are more likely to have a higher level of literacy than children who don’t have books in the home.

“Literacy, strong literacy is the foundation of a strong society. So we know that if you have lower literacy levels, you’re typically more likely to have food insecurity, to be homeless, to have mental health challenges, they really go hand in hand,” she explained.

“Literacy isn’t just reading and writing. One out of five people have literacy levels so low that it means that they can’t really read or write.”

Scarrow says poverty on the West Island is on the rise, noting that they see close to 500 families for food insecurity – a figure that’s mirrored with an event like Thursday’s.

“Anybody that comes in here is always choosing for themselves. Families pick what they want, like and need for themselves,” Scarrow said.

“It’s not upon us to decide the bag that this little boy behind me wants. He’s excited. It’s not for us to take that away from him.”