April 23, 2021
Sudbury, ON – Have you heard of the Sudbury School Supply Drive?
If you haven’t, it’s only a few years old. The new initiative was created by a High School student in 2019, when Kerry Yang collected school supplies in Sudbury — And sent them to students in Africa.
“I wanted to shift access to education from a privilege, to a fundamental right worldwide. And so for the past two years, I’ve been organizing the Sudbury School Supply Drive” says Kerry.
Kerry, now a grade 11 International Baccalaureate student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary – Has ambitions to make a difference.
“This year, I set out the ambitious goal to collect school supplies for over 200 students across our country” says Kerry.
After shipping supplies to Africa in 2019, she realized that quality education is not only an issue in Africa and abroad. It’s also an issue – Right here in Canada, where remote locations create a barrier to obtaining school supplies.
As the first local recipient of the Rising Youth Grant, Kerry was able to put together a gift basket give-away for businesses who pitch in. Every local group to donate new or gently-used school supplies earned a ticket into the draw.
She continues: “Upon receiving the grant in October, I set out to find the right organizations, communities, schools, and programs that would benefit, as well as community partners that could become involved.”
Her idea worked. From December to March, school supplies were collected – With one generous donation of over 100 backpacks from the YWCA.
By the time the Drive ended in March, a whopping 200 pounds of donations were collected, totalling more than 3000 school supplies.
They were then boxed up and shipped out to locations across Canada – 8 recipients’ total, in 4 provinces and territories.
Kerry explains: “…communities in the territories: Grise Fiord, Qikiqtarjuaq, and Aklavik received one large box each. Moorelands Kids in Toronto received another large shipping box and Share the Warmth in Montreal received two large boxes.”
These school supplies will go to low-income families, summer camp programs, schools, and other students in need.
Apart from her own aspirations to help, Kerry wants to motivate other youth to action, knowing that for a teenager – It’s all too easy to dismiss an idea as fantasy that could never amount to something:
“It is my goal to be able to inspire other youth in the community to realize that they are never too young to create meaningful change.”
Kerry is reaching out to the community in hopes of making the Sudbury School Supply Drive (SSSD) a part of Sudbury’s fabric for years to come.
Any forms of support are greatly appreciated. Please do not hesitate if you would like to get involved or have any questions about the program.
Kerry can be reached by emailing sudburyschoolsupplydrive@gmail.com
Dani Star
Editor, Sudburyevents.com
Danistar.ca
Kerry Yang sits with 200Lbs of school supplies she collected, and shipped across Canada / photos supplied
