Salvation Army bringing school supplies to low-income families' hands through backpack program

The school year is fast approaching, and with that comes the associated costs of school supplies which could put families in a bind.

Luckily the Salvation Army is starting back up their program that is set to help out those families by supplying them with what they need for the school year.

The program's been running for a few years and is back again as inflation is also putting some financial stress on some families.

Ronza Reynard, the director of ministries for Estevan and Weyburn, says that the program

"Right now applications are open, people can just come down to the office to fill out the form. It is geared towards low-income families who need assistance with a little bit of the back-to-school supplies."

That office is located at 1107 4 Street, and they're accepting applications until August 15.

While the program does help out parents with higher inflationary costs, the challenges of that are being passed on to the Salvation Army.

"That can definitely drive the cost of the programs. This year we don't have a sponsor, last year we did have a sponsor for the program and that really did help us offset some of the costs," said Reynard, "This year it'll fall more to us, that's a bit of a challenge but we're okay with that."

The number of backpacks they need to stuff varies year to year, so they're hoping people get their applications in soon so they can get a final cost for the program.

"We have no idea what the numbers will be like," said Reynard, "We've had it in years where we've had 50 and we've had it in years where we had 110. We never know where our numbers are going to fall until we get the applications in, then we kind of ballpark it as those numbers start to rise."

Reynard says that it'll also help out if parents let them know if they only need the supplies and not the backpack, as that'll be one measure that'll help them save costs.