Keswick Staples donates funds to buy school supplies for kids in need

By: Mike Anderson

As the pandemic makes fundraising challenging for many local service groups, some are turning to corporate partnerships to help them assist those in need.

Keswick Staples presented Jericho Youth Services with a $1,025 gift card on October 29, which will help purchase educational books and school supplies for more than 200 children – aged six to 13 – who participate in its after school programs.

The funds were collected from Staples’ customers, who were prompted at the cash to donate to the Kiwanis/Staples Start to Smart – Back to School Program, which began in September and wrapped up last month.

“Parents are having a very difficult time with their children, with some of them half in and half out of school. It’s a really expensive time of year when kids are going back to school. So here at Staples, we thought we could help out. And, this is our way of doing that,” said Chris Bell, general manager of the Keswick Staples.

Mr. Bell credits the generous customer donations to a recent uptick in business that Staples has seen during the pandemic, as more people work from home.

“People are spending more this year. And that’s a big key. I have a range of steady customers that come in here. I see them two or three times a week, and I appreciate them coming in, and I service them to death,” said Mr. Bell, who’s happy the funds are going to a local service group rather than into a larger corporate fund.

The Kiwanis/Staples Start to Smart – Back to School Program, run by the Kiwanis Foundation of Canada, partners local Kiwanis clubs with Staples stores.

“Staples has traditionally done things where they’ve taken excess product and maybe gathered some funds and given them to the local charities, but they told us their store managers aren’t really in the business of knowing who to talk to in all the communities,” said Michael Young, the program’s coordinator for Eastern Canada.

“Not every community has such a well-connected relationship as Chris Bell and Jericho Youth Services in this case. So I think for Keswick, it couldn’t be a better deal.”

Mr. Young is hopeful that this fundraising model can help local service groups geared to children raise much-needed funds for their programs.

According to the foundation’s website, previous prompted donation campaigns run by Staples have raised as much as $500,000.

“Now there’s 111 Staple stores, and there are about 77 Kiwanis Clubs in Ontario. And if we can convert that to 50 to 75 per cent of the stores talking to these clubs, think of the relationships we can build,” he said.

“I love this strategy because now the people who are actually in the business of talking to the people who need it have a relationship with an organization that can help drive funds.”

With the pandemic severely handicapping her efforts to fundraise, Susan Gorman, Jericho’s executive director, said she’s glad to have support from retailers like Staples.

“While we have funders, like the United Way, York Region, and the Town of Georgina, a lot of our operating and programming budget comes from fundraising. And, of course, that has not happened this year. So, there’s been a huge loss. So, this will be very helpful.”

“We deal with a lot of families who are struggling financially. But it’s hard to keep asking. And there are so many other not-for-profits and small organizations who keep asking the same people, and it’s not a never-ending pot, as we know. So to make the fundraising network extend outside of Georgina is very beneficial.”