Inflation tightening the budgets of Montreal parents and charities for back-to-school shopping

Marie Yolette Valbrun has to buy school supplies for five of her kids this year, but with prices going up all around her, the Montreal mom says she's dreading back-to-school shopping.

"Everything is expensive today," said the woman who immigrated to Canada just under a decade ago.

Her situation has become even more difficult since she can't work while she recovers from giving birth to her sixth child a little over a month ago.

To make ends meet, Valbrun says she's had to seriously limit the use of the family car favouring public transit whenever possible. She thrifts often and gets her groceries from a food bank operated by Sun Youth.

This year, she says she also wants to sign up for the organization's school supplies distribution program.

"It would be really heartwarming because it would help me a lot," she said.

But, the organization says it too is struggling with the challenges presented by inflation. Though it is set to help 1,000 kids with supplies, it says it can't do as much for them as it has in previous years.

"It's a harsh reality," said Ernie Rosa, Sun Youth's director of emergency services.

Sun Youth budgets their backpacks — which contain school supplies inside — for elementary school students at $70, and $77 for high school students. However this year, the organization has been forced to remove certain items like pencil cases, calculators and geometry kits, which were all included in last year's bundle, because of inflation. 

"We're hoping that although we can help parents with a good bag, you know, unfortunately they're going to have to find some resources to finish the bag."

More families need help

At the same time, Rosa says demand for help is going up. He says there are more working families struggling to make ends meet, and there is a rise in newcomers. 

"With everything we've gone through in the post-COVID era it's been a real taxing environment for non-profits," said Rosa. 

Even larger-scale programs are struggling to keep up. That's the case with another Montreal organization that supports families in need, Regroupement Partage, which runs Opération Sac à Dos.

About 7,000 students will receive backpacks through that program this year, but the organization says demand for help is 10 times greater.

"We're not going to be able to fulfil all the demand, that's for sure," said Audrey Renaud, the general manager of Regroupement Partage. 

Their program was already full by mid-July.

LISTEN | How a Montreal group is providing school supplies to 7,000 students:

Despite wanting to do more, Renaud says she is proud of what her organization has managed to accomplish.

"To see the kids' faces when they actually come to the Opération Sac à Dos and they get to choose their own backpacks, it's so fulfilling," she said. 

Renaud says she expects demand for help will continue to grow and that Regroupement Partage will have to distribute closer to 8,000 backpacks next year. 

Rosa says the full economic impact of the pandemic still has to be evaluated and charities like Sun Youth may find themselves trying to help more people struggling to get by in the near future. 

"Things need to settle down before we can really see where we're headed," said Rosa. 

As for Valbrun, she says she doesn't mind paying for some supplies out of pocket and that simply receiving new backpacks would be a great help for her and her family.