Due to the alarming rate of child poverty, the number of children that begin each school semester without the proper school supplies is steadily rising.  Start2Finish provides a helping hand to these economically challenged families through our annual Backpack Program, which allows us to meet the needs of thousands of children from coast to coast.  Each fall Start2Finish, in cooperation with school boards and local administrators, identifies children with the greatest needs in low-income communities across the nation, and provides them with quality backpacks filled with vital school essentials. These tools help to “even the playing field” among students and equip them for success in the coming school year.

Supplies are collected throughout the late spring and summer, and then packed into the backpacks by dedicated volunteers from within the community at various locations across the country, as well as corporate sponsors, at the end of August.  The bags are delivered to inner city schools all throughout Canada during the first two weeks of September.