Arts Market launches school supply drive for Nellie’s

Arts Market has launched a school supply drive to raise awareness for Nellie’s, a Riverside shelter dedicated to assisting families, women and children recovering from abuse, poverty and homelessness.

The market, which has locations on Queen East in Leslieville and Riverside, plus a west end space on College Street, is running a charity build-a-backpack initiative to raise awareness for the shelter and its programs.

"The project aims to provide children with the supplies they need to start a new school year successfully and prepared," says Arts Market manager Megan Rach. "A full backpack of school supplies can range from $40 to $120-plus, depending on the age and grade. These costs can be major cause of stress in an already stressful situation, and we are aiming to help alleviate that stress for these families facing hardships."

From now till Aug. 31, community members are asked to bring in a new school supply and in exchange, be entered into a raffle for a prize.

"In addition to the raffle, we will be holding a contest - community members have the chance to contribute $2 to submit a guess for how many popsicle sticks are in the backpack that will be on display."

All proceeds go towards buying new backpacks to fill with the school supplies. The winners will be drawn and notified on Aug. 31

Donation drop-off zones are at all three Arts Market locations:

1114 Queen St. E
790 Queen St. E
846 College St..

Visit nellies.org and artsmarket.ca for more information.