Tammy Allarie remembers how confident she felt as a kid on the first day of school when she could blend into the crowd with a new backpack filled with pencils and notebooks.
“School supplies shopping was a big deal every year. It’s a good way to start positively. School’s tough sometimes, so, if you can get off on the right start, you’re partway there,” she said.
Allarie, who moved to Ottawa at 13 from Newfoundland, also remembers noticing some of the other kids who did not enter the new school year with fresh supplies.
This memory stuck with her decades later after she met Dave Thompson while working as one of the owners of the Ottawa Megadome, an indoor FIFA-sized field in Stittsville.
According to Allarie, Thompson, who runs the Megadome with her, was a generous guy.
The former owner of a snowplowing company, he recalled one especially warm holiday season — either 2008 or 2009 — when his mother’s cousin had just passed away and he filled dump trucks of “snow” from local arenas to drop off on her front lawn.
That turned into a habit of annual holiday “snow” deliveries to Ottawans who might not otherwise get to enjoy it, like kids at the Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice .
So it was a no-brainer when Allarie, with her first day of school memories, suggested they foster Thompson’s generous spirit into organizing something for the upcoming school year.
“She said, ‘What about backpacks?’ And I was like, ‘I’ll definitely figure it out.’ So we contacted a backpack company that does them in bulk, and they gave us a great deal. We just put together 170 backpacks for kids, and targeted the more needy schools,” Thompson said.
He said that right after a drop-off at Paul Desmarais Catholic Secondary School, he felt so lucky to be able to see kids walking out with his backpacks.
“It’s the necessities they need to at least start their journey. If they aren’t able to do that on their own, and if their families have a hard enough time doing that, this alleviates the pressure, and they can put money towards new shoes on their feet, or food on the table. It’s hard enough to have to spend in this day and age. At least we give them a fighting chance,” Thompson said.
Thompson and Allarie have dropped off full bags in what they’ve dubbed the “Backpack Giveback” at Paul Desmarais, St. Elizabeth Elementary School, Prince of Peace School, St. Philip School and Richmond Public School.
Paul Desmarais is right next to the Megadome, with which it has a partnership, so that was an easy place for the two to start.
Principal Mathieu Gagné said he was able to identify some families that might need the backpacks when Thompson reached out through the school’s front-desk staff.
“It’s always a delicate matter to identify families in need. These secretaries, they are amazing. And they are profoundly human. They talk to the families more than I do,” Gagné said.
To prepare, Allarie and Thompson spent the latter half of August with Megadome staff in a school-supplies assembly line, filling packs with everything each elementary or high school student might need.
Into an elementary backpack went pencil crayons, erasers, a sharpener, a pencil case, a glue stick, scissors, lined paper, two small binders, pencils and crayons, Thompson said.
A high school bag included pens, pencils, a Texas Instruments calculator, a geometry set, three-ring binders and workbooks.
Thompson estimated the whole operation cost around $4,000.
“But I guarantee next year it’ll be more. One hundred per cent. That’s not even a question. This was our starter year to see logistically how it will all work. Now that I know how it all works, how to do it and how much time I need, I’ll have a tournament and sponsors,” he said excitedly, adding he wanted to get to 2,000 backpacks next year with the help of a flag football tournament.
Allarie wasn’t sure it would be as easy as Thompson thought.
“You just worry because a lot of people aren’t always advertising that they need help. We want to be involved and have the tools they need for an education. I mean, the backpacks are a small thing for us, right? But it’s a huge thing for them,” she said.
Thompson said anyone interested in sponsoring the initiative or helping out for next year should contact him at [email protected].
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