16 Jan CYF Grant Recipient in Profile: Giving Backpacks Project

Thanks to a grant from Youth Central’s Calgary Youth Foundation, more than 40 homeless Calgarians will have all the winter essentials they need for the rest of the season.
 
A project called Giving Backpacks, which was founded by two Grade 12 students at Bishop Carroll High School, received $1,500 from the Calgary Youth Foundation to assemble backpacks filled with blankets, toques, gloves, socks and more. They then visited the Uptown Bottle Depot, downtown and the surrounding area, meeting various homeless Calgarians and giving them the backpacks.
 
“We thought going out and giving them the backpacks ourselves would best benefit all of our members and the project,” says Rod Silveira, President of the Youth Foundation for Change.
 
“This way, the people receiving them would understand that we aren’t just another company donating things as an attempt to show they are committed to the community, but that we actually care.
 
“We couldn’t be more thankful to the Calgary Youth Foundation and the Youth Central for giving us this grant and really making our vision a reality. This has really given us a dose of reality, and shown that we are never to young to make a difference.”
 
Next, they plan to distribute more backpacks at the Mustard Seed.