Guru Nanak Food Bank is once again hosting a massive school supply drive to help meet the needs of students in Delta and Surrey.
On Sunday, Sept. 1, the North Delta-based organization will be collecting donations of school supplies at both its North Delta and Surrey locations, a change from last year where the food bank held drives in each city on separate days.
What's not changing is that all items donated will stay in the city where they were collected and be distributed through the Delta and Surrey school districts to kids who need them.
Last year's drive brought in more than 2,000 items in North Delta alone, in addition to just over $2,400 in cash donations that GNFB used to purchase things like shoes, coats and backpacks to support local students as needs arise.
“Given the current economic climate, we know how important it is to alleviate the financial burden on families and student," GNFB founder and president Gyani Narinder Singh said in a statement released following last year's drive.
"We were inspired to start this initiative [in 2022] for students in Surrey as we knew some families were finding it difficult to afford food, let alone school supplies," he said.
“We were thrilled to be able to expand this initiative to help students in Delta [in 2023]. We look forward to growing this event and its impact even more [this] year, as we know that every notebook, pencil, and backpack carries the promise of a brighter future.”
For this year's drive, GNFB is looking to collect a number of items, including notebooks, pencils, erasers, pens, markers, highlighters, crayons, coloured pencils, rulers, scissors, glue sticks, folders and binders, backpacks, calculators, protractors and compasses, art and science supplies, and whiteboard markers and erasers.
School supplies can be dropped off the day of the drive from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at either Guru Nanak Food Bank's North Delta headquarters, located at 11188 84th Ave., or its Surrey office at 5299 68 Ave. Donations can also be dropped off ahead of time if people can not make it out on Sunday.
Those who wish to can also make cash donations in person at either location or online at gnfb.ca.
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