By Staff
August 10th. 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Any day now you can expect to see the Back to School flyers in the print edition of newspapers. It will be a thick package of advertising material.
While many kids look forward to back to school shopping, new clothes and school supplies are unaffordable luxuries for about 1 in 10 students in Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills.
The Halton Learning Foundation (HLF) is on a mission to raise $10,000 by September 1 to ensure those students can start the school year with the basics they need to be successful.
The Foundation annually provides more than 1,000 students and their families with emergency funds for clothing, lunches, and other basic necessities, and helps ensure all students can be included in school activities.
Lesley Mansfield, executive director of HLF, says the majority of students who receive support are from families where one or both parents work.
“The high cost of housing in Halton, low‐paid work and unexpected events like illness or accidents can affect a family’s income to the point where they can no longer afford to buy their children new shoes or send them on a school trip,” she says. “We don’t want kids in our community to give up on their education and the opportunity for a better future because they are unable to fully participate in school.”
Mansfield says even small donations can make a difference; for just $20 a student can be included in a class field trip instead of being left behind.
The help is needed to help prepare a child in our community to go back to school. You can donate on line or give the office a call: 905‐ 335‐3665, ext. 3408 or 3388.
The Halton Learning Foundation helps eliminate financial barriers to education for students of the Halton District School Board by providing emergency help for students in need, post‐secondary scholarships, and funds to assist schools that have classroom needs beyond core education funding.
