The Weyburn Salvation Army will be handing out back-to-school kits to local families in need this week. For the second year in a row, this year's back-to-school program was sponsored by Royal LePage Signature in Weyburn.

Community Ministries Worker, Shannon Fodchuk, said they not only sponsored it, but also did most of the work.

"We just collected the applications and sent her the numbers, and she did all the shopping, all the packing," she explained. "So it took a load off of us. It went really smoothly for us. She's filled it with everything they need." 

In fact, with 64 applicants this year, the shopping, which included backpacks, proved to be a challenge, but it was one they happily accepted.

"It was definitely fun trying to find as much as I could locally, which thank goodness for Walmart, because they had a lot of stuff, went to the Wholesale, went to Canadian Tire, did whatever I could in town to get all these supplies for people," shared Bree Patterson, Owner/Broker with Royal LePage Signature.

She said she even found herself at Staples in Regina ensuring she had every item, and even more to spare. And, she had help from another local business.

"Ardell Waldner from Ardell's Bookkeeping, I asked her, and she graciously said she would go to Regina and she actually found all of the high school bookbags for me, so that was a huge help."

Patterson shared why she wanted to help out with this endeavour, with which her daughter Lexi also played a helpful role in organizing and preparing the bags of supplies.

"It's a super good cause. We have four kids, and I can understand how expensive school supplies can be, and how important it is that those kids have the supplies they need the first day of school," she shared. "So anything we can do to help. It was easy to do."

Fodchuk and Patterson worked together easily through the use of a spreadsheet, but they noted, to ensure they find everything they need well in advance, they might start a little earlier in the season next year.