Donation helps Regina's Carmichael Outreach prepare kids for school year

Thanks to a big donation of school supplies, Carmichael Outreach in Regina is making sure kids will be ready for the school year.

Darlene King, Lisa Trombett and Kandas McLeod decided to put together a steak night fundraiser this month to support local charities which often have a harder time getting donations in the summer. King says the response was great, and they sold 150 tickets within 10 days, raising more than $2,500.

“We knew that Carmichael Outreach could always use it and then we talked to them and asked what their wish list was, and being this time of year of course, school supplies (was) on there,” King said.

The three women are in business together as the Regina Realty Experts with Sutton Group Results Realty. They credit the generosity of the whole community for raising enough money to buy not only school supplies, but also a few food carts that were on Carmichael’s wish list.

King says she remembers the expense of buying school supplies for her kids, and feels good that they can help out families whose budgets don’t stretch that far.

Cora Gajari is the executive director at Carmichael Outreach. She says this donation will mean a lot to the families who can’t afford to buy school supplies on their own.

“A lot of the families we work with are struggling to cover their day to day expenses and even on a regular month they run short,” she said.

“This will go a long way to help us help families get their kids in school and settled properly for the coming year.”

Gajari says every kid is nervous and excited for the first day of school, but thinking about showing up without the proper supplies can make them more nervous.

“This helps them to ease into the school and be where they need to be in order to start a successful school year,” she said.

She says Carmichael can help about four dozen families send their kids to school with brand new supplies for all ages.