Lawrence estimates that they have currently received about 200 backpacks, but they need at least 300 backpacks for the event on August 17. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

As the need for more school backpacks grows, Fresh Start’s charity drive is figuring out what to do as they see a lack of donations compared to previous years.

Fresh Start is a charity started by the owner of That 50’s Barber Shop, Dave Lawrence, to give kids and youth free haircuts and school supplies ahead of each school year.

The first Fresh Start event started 11 years ago with 75 children and has grown to support over 300 kids every year.

But Lawrence told CHLY that while the increase in the number of children who attend the event increases, they might not have enough backpacks for this year’s event.

“It's been really tough, where I feel like it's a weird financial time, there's a lot of trouble and tariffs, and I think people are unsure of what's happening. So with that, we haven't been getting as many donations,” Lawrence said. “Bigger organizations that normally would donate $1,000 to us have said that those programs have been cut. So it's been a struggle.”

At the event, children and youth can get free haircuts and backpacks filled with school supplies, books, and clothes.

All school supplies are donations from community members, businesses and other organizations.

This year’s event is happening on August 17 at Diana Krall Plaza downtown Nanaimo from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

As Lawrence said, they are seeing an increase in the price of backpacks, and they have had to rely more on donated backpacks than on using funds to purchase them.

“Backpacks are more expensive items, so if people wanted to donate a backpack, all the money and stuff that we've raised, we could go and get school supplies and stuff to put in those backpacks,” he said. “I found that the price of everything, like everyone knows, has gone up, so the price of backpacks, we used to be able to find cheaper backpacks for maybe $10 a pop, and now they've gone up anywhere $15 to $30, really. So it's quite expensive. I'm worried that we won't have enough backpacks.”

Lawrence estimates that they have currently received about 200 backpacks, but they need at least 300 backpacks for the event on August 17.

“We need to have at least 300, that's the magic number,” he said. “I always get nervous that, what if this is the year that we suddenly have 400 kids come? I've we've never had to turn anyone away, we've always had enough stuff. I don't want that to happen this year.”

Since starting the event, Lawrence said it has opened his eyes to how much childhood poverty is in Nanaimo. He said this is something a lot of people in Nanaimo may not realize is happening in their community.

“You can come downtown and see street people and say, ‘there's a homeless problem in this town’, or see people doing drugs and say, ‘there's a drug problem in this town ’, but you don't see child poverty,” he said. “You don't see the people who live below the poverty line. We got a taste of it firsthand when COVID-19 came about, and we kind of changed things, and we ended up delivering stuff to people's houses, and we kind of saw where people live, and it was really heartbreaking. Some of the volunteers would phone me up crying because they didn't realize there was that level of poverty, and I don't think people fully understand that.”

He mentions that because this event is for those ages 5-18, they are looking for backpacks that are appropriate for both the younger and older kids.

“Everyone really enjoys getting those fun little kid backpacks with colourful sharks or whatever, but we do have a lot of teenagers that come through, so we do need the more mature kind of looking backpacks,” he said.

As the event nears, Lawrence is still hopeful.

“It's going to be a huge event this year. We've teamed up with the City of Nanaimo, they've rented Diana Krall Plaza, paid for the insurance for it, which is great,” he said. “There's gonna be many, many food trucks, there's gonna be Star Wars cosplayers, there's gonna be all kinds of events for kids. It's just gonna be a really, really great, fun event. This is probably the biggest it's ever been. It's gonna be awesome.”

Donations of backpacks and school supplies can be dropped off at That 50's Barber Shop at 16A Victoria Crescent. Monetary donations can be made online at canadahelps.org.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.