‘We try to do a little better each year’ Lampi
Happy to do her part in helping kids and young families in need, Kathy Lampi and her team try to offset the high costs associated with the back-to-school season through Backpacks for Kids. Now headquartered in the Fort Frances Family Dentist, Lampi and her former coworkers, Paige Anderson and Kathy Langtree, have started including water bottles and lunch bags in the program, and these changes led to the greatest fundraising effort the program has seen since Lampi took it over.
“I have my two regular girls, but [all] the staff helped stuff bags,” said Lampi.
“We have the storage room downstairs that we use when we’re collecting our supplies in our backpacks. So, ever since I took it over, I’ve operated out of the dental office here.”
Over the past ten or 11 years, Backpacks for Kids has helped kids get the gear they need to be productive learners in Fort Frances.
“[Backpacks for Kids,] it helps out lots and lots of people, and I mean, I know, because I remember what it was like trying to get your kids ready for school. It’s expensive, and there’s more and more each year that parents have to provide for their kids to go back to school,” said Lampi. “It’s not just like, you know, the old days where it was a binder and some pencil crayons. There’s so much more that goes along now. So, it does help out a lot, and it’s good to get out in the community and help out.
“My two girls who work with me, [on Backpacks for Kids,] they’ve helped me out for three years now. They’re amazing, and they were both right out of this office. Now they’re each at different jobs, so it makes it a little bit tougher. But we do a lot of evening work and get together to do some shopping. It’s good. I couldn’t do it without them.”
Although Anderson and Langtree no longer work out of the Fort Frances Family Dentist’s office, they continue to work together with Lampi.
“They both kind of started here as students and became employees. Then they grow up and go away to school,” Lampi said.
“Actually, Paige runs the Emo office, the Emo Dental Office for us, and Kelsey is the counsellor at behavioural sciences, but we still all get together and do it.”
Like the workplaces of Anderson and Langtree, times change, as do curricula, social norms, and so on.
“Things change. So, where we started was kind of the basics,” said Lampi. “Now, it’s great. We’re getting water bottles, because people bring their water to school, or they fill their water at school, the lunch bags and lunch kits that fit into the backpacks for the kids, because there are so many bus students and out-of-town students or kids that have parents that work, that don’t go home for lunch. You still have all your regular school supplies, and I did throw a few calculators in, of course. It’s trying to keep up with the times.”
Not only did Lampi expand the program with the addition of water bottles and lunch kits, but this year was the best yet in terms of the total number of bags collected.
“We had probably the best year we’ve ever had,” said Lampi.
“We did 375 backpacks this year. My goal was 325, so we surpassed it. That was great. We picked up some new people who helped us out this year with donations. I start in February of next year, because I have to make people’s financial quotas. I have to start early. So I start putting in like for the mine and a few of the bigger places. It’s such a great problem program, and it’s getting out there. People are knowing it and seeing it now, and we try to do lots of Facebook and social media kind of things, and little posters all over town.”
Another important party that helps in keeping Backpacks for Kids a living thing is The Bargain Shop.
“The Bargain Shop is always helpful. They do with their drop-off centre for us. So people who can’t get out here or downtown will buy, and they throw it in a bin there, right in the bargain store,” said Lampi.
“They help us out a lot, for sure. So that’s great too. It’s a growing program, and now we have a big number to try to beat next year. We try to do a little better each year.”
