Dormez-Vous helps kids gear up for school

Each Dormez-Vous location around the Island of Montreal, including ones in Kirkland and Dollard des Ormeaux, are helping elementary students living below the poverty line with school supplies.

Dormez Vous has launched its third annual Backpack For Kids Campaign.

Statistics Canada currently states that one out of 10 children in Quebec lives in poverty or near poverty, and must do without the required school gear that would motivate them further along their already challenging education paths. As a result, many less fortunate kids, whose families are already struggling to feed and clothe them, have a negative experience with the school system early on in their lives; one in which an item as simple as a pencil or pad of paper is out of reach.

“You throw them into the environment, you tell them to learn, but you don’t give them the tools to learn,” said Dormez-Vous president Stewart Schaefer, of the pressing state of today’s youth attending classes without the bare necessities to succeed.

The 2008 Backpack For Kids Campaign at Dormez-Vous is trying to change this factor, but needs local families to reach out to them for such a worthy cause.

For the crucial “back to school” month of August until Sept. 1, Dormez-Vous has teamed up with the Salvation Army and the non-profit organization Kidsfest, to invite donations of schoolbags filled with school supplies such as crayons, pencil cases, non-toxic markers, thesauruses, scissors, etc. from concerned Quebecers into the hands of grateful kids. All bags can be dropped off at various Dormez-Vous locations.

The outcry for a program like this has been both remarkable and overwhelming in response. Especially since the necessities to nurture a child in need are often thought of as warmth, nutrition and housing. In light of survival, education might seem to come secondary, but it is often the most effective step in combating poverty and breaking the cycle.

“We’ve all been there.” said Schaefer. “Some kinds are dressed to the nines and others don’t have a backpack.” He believes this campaign will deeply touch family oriented areas like the West Island, where despite relative affluence; poverty still affects every one of its communities.

“A simple backpack filled with school supplies can make the difference to a child who can begin the year with an equal opportunity to succeed,” stated Givette Titcombe Volet, director of public relations for the Salvation Army Quebec Division.

So this Fall, when our shining students are gearing up in the latest pre-teen trends, think of those who would fare well with a simple eraser and notebook, for a future as bright as any other.