New Brunswick community organizations say more families are turning to school drives for help with back-to-school supplies.
In an interview with Acadia Broadcasting on Aug. 26, executive director of the non-profit What Kids Needs Moncton, Amanda Pooley, said they helped a record 171 kids this year.
Pooley said her non-profit has been organizing school supply drives on and off for the past 15 years.
This is the first year they hosted the school drive in their new location at 200 Karolie Dr. in Riverview, and she said several families were still waiting in line after supplies ran out.
“I have never seen a lineup ever before a school supply drive like this one,” she said. “When we finished handing out the 171 backpacks, there were still hundreds of people waiting in line, and we just didn’t have anything left to give them.”
Pooley said before, most kids she had helped with supplies were a little under 100.
The drive was scheduled to start at 1 p.m., but Pooley said families were lining up outside the building by 10:30 a.m., as supplies would be given out on a first-come, first-served basis.
She explained that her organization doesn’t provide the full list of materials but helps parents with a backpack filled with some of the supplies required, including backpacks for kids in kindergarten to grade 2, grade 3 to 5, grade 6 to 8, and high school.
After the event, Pooley said her non-profit faced significant criticism following the school drive.
She said many parents who did not get backpacks complained on social media about families who got additional supplies since they had more than one child.
Pooley said it was discouraging to see the complaints from parents, but added the situation highlights how the affordability crisis continues to impact New Brunswick families.
“We only have like a week and a half left before school is going to be starting back up. So, if you don’t have another way to get school supplies and you realize there is nothing left, there is going to be strong emotional reactions,” she said.
According to the Human Development Council 2025 Child and Family Report, in 2023 child poverty in New Brunswick remained alarmingly high, with 21.9 per cent or 32,140 children living in poverty — unchanged from 2022.
RELATED: Child poverty in N.B. above the national rate
The report said the main cause of the increase is rising living costs, particularly in everyday necessities like housing, food, and energy, which are pushing families deeper into hardship.
According to the report, housing was the most significant driver of the increase. Since 2020, average rents in New Brunswick have increased 44 per cent, fundamentally altering the province’s affordability landscape.
Pooley said the growing affordability crisis highlights the need for government solutions to ensure all children have access to school supplies.
She suggested the province should help school districts buy school supplies in bulk so parents only need to purchase personal items like backpacks and lunch boxes.
“We have public education, and these are essentials that go with public education, so we need to make sure every single child who is going into that school system has the supplies they need,” she said.
Non-profits will continue to fill gaps
Like Pooley, UCT Jack Kidd Council #755 school drive coordinator Olivia Donovan said additional government support could help, but noted community organizations will continue stepping in to meet families’ immediate needs.
“I think there will always be a need for a combination of government funding and also service groups,” she said.
UCT Jack Kidd Council is a non-profit organization that has served the Saint John region since the 1950s. Through its bingo operations, the organization raises funds to support local non-profits and community groups.
They also help non-profits through volunteer work and by collecting donations from partner organizations like the Saint John Little League.
UCT Jack Kidd Council has collected donations and donated funds to non-profits The ONE Change Inc, Crescent Valley Resource Centre, P.U.L.S.E Inc and Carleton Community Centre to help parents in those communities get school supplies for the past six years.
Donovan said the organizations they support have seen demand for school drives steadily increase over the years, particularly in priority neighbourhoods such as Saint John’s North End, where as many as 75 families seek help with school supplies each year.
She said that unless parents are making a living wage, they expect to see more requests for help.
“I think that’s one of the issues that right now is that we have a very low minimum wage, and parents are feeling like they have to have two or three jobs in order to pay what they need to live and support their kids,” said Donovan.
In an email statement, Department of Education spokesperson Shawn Berry said the government already supports families with back-to-school supplies through the Department of Social Development, through the Youth Engagement and Support program, and a school supply benefit obtained via tax returns.
Acadia Broadcasting also asked the department whether it would consider Pooley’s suggestion of helping school districts purchase supplies in bulk, but the department did not respond to that question.
