Community Safety Unit’s backpack drive helps thousands of TCHC families

To ease the burden of back-to-school costs on families, he wanted to offer free backpacks for the upcoming school year to children and youth.  

“I had a conversation with an officer at Waterloo Regional Police about how a back-to-school backpack drive could make a big difference for our tenants,” he said. “So, we did some fundraising and started to give away backpacks and back-to-school supplies. It’s grown from there.”

Each year, Anderson has been able to increase the number of backpacks, and last year, added some school supplies from the Toronto Fire service for the giveaway. 

“In total, not counting this year, we’ve given away over 3,500 backpacks full of supplies,” he said proudly. “My colleagues began helping me in the first year, but because the work started to get too overwhelming, I had to form a committee with 10 members and assign duties,” he said laughing. 

With organizing the fundraising drive and finding donors, Anderson said the logistics involved require a lot of work, including procurement, putting the backpacks together, and storing and distributing them. This work is all done voluntarily—and, after hours—by the committee members.  

The committee members include: 

• Staff Sergeant Andrew Imade
• Special Constable Giovanni Kinney
• Judith Mendoza Volunteer community member
• Special Constable Steve Newberry
• Parking Enforcement Officer Harley Richards
• Dispatch Supervisor Martin Stewart
• Office Services Sharon Smith
• Community Safety Advisor Ken Tooby
• Sergeant Will Vrieswy
• Dispatch Randpreet Randhawa 

This work also extends beyond the committee as CSU officers and TCHC staff joined together to help identify families who could benefit from a free backpack (or backpacks) for their children.  

“This year, we’re looking at about 1,300 more backpacks that we’ll hand out through BBQ events or just door knocking,” said Anderson. He gets great satisfaction from the drive as he knows it eases the financial burden on parents, especially this year when costs are high.  

“I’ve been with the CSU for 20 years now,” said Anderson. 

“I do this because the job matters to me and the people in our communities matter to me. To help kids and their parents in a positive way that can help them move on to higher education.” He added, “to know we may have played a little role in helping these kids achieve higher learning, the whole thing is a win for everyone involved. This is just one example of the many initiatives that the CSU participates in throughout the year.”