Sask. mother gives away almost 1,000 backpacks filled with supplies for kids in need

A mother of three has been collecting backpacks for close to a decade to give out to kids in need, and on Wednesday she did it all again.

When she dropped off her middle daughter 10 years ago, Amanda McCall noticed three children without backpacks because their parents couldn't afford it.

"I thought, what could I do to make this better, and that's where I started." said McCall.

McCall is a mother to three daughters who also runs a daycare during the day, which she has been doing for the last 17 years. She also decided to start a backpack giveaway, where she gathered backpacks filled with school supplies.

The first year there were 75 backpacks and it was just for family and friends. As word started to spread about what she was doing, more people reached out, so she says each year the list gets bigger.

"The rising cost of everything, the need is so great, last year we had 552 bags and we had 10 left when we were done. And that's the first year that we didn't completely run out," said McCall.

"I think this is our way of getting kids back to school at the best they can be."

She follows the McLurg school supply list, so there are binders, paper dividers, pencils, crayons, pens, erasers, duotangs and a few other little things that were donated inside the bags.

"Everybody is just very grateful, the kids are smiling from ear to ear. They're so happy to be able to have their new bag and it just makes a difference," said McCall.

This year marks the 10th giveaway event, and McCall assembled just under 1,000 backpacks filled with supplies. The giveaway event was held at the A&W parking lot on Avonhurst Drive on Wednesday.

"I started this to teach my children that not everyone is as lucky as we are, and they're grown now and I just want to show people that in a world that isn't the best, there is a little bit of hope." said McCall

McCall said she's had great support from the community as people dropped off donations and money, and wanted to help out.

She said anyone was welcome to show up with their children if they needed a backpack, but there was a limit of three backpacks per family so they could make sure all families received a bag.

"The economy is so high, so crazy right now that it's forcing people to go for deals, try to find sales and a lot of kids go without," said McCall.

"So it's important to me to show my kids and to show everybody that one person can make a difference."