With more and more people moving to the Moncton area, the need for winter clothing is great. Beaverbrook School in Moncton is in the midst of its first ever winter clothing drive. Principal Kyle Bishop said around half of his 280 students are newcomers to Canada and when they arrive many are not prepared for a Canadian winter. “Come wintertime, especially with our newcomer population new to Canada, new to our weather here, sometimes it’s a shock to them and they need stuff quick,” said Bishop. School counsellor Amber Lewis said snowsuits for younger kids are their biggest need right now, but they’ll take anything they can get as long as it’s in fairly good condition. “There is need, but I do believe in our province there is need at all schools now, quite truthfully. But also, by providing jackets, winter boots, hats and mittens it also frees up maybe a little more money to put food in the fridge as well as Christmas presents,” said Lewis. “I also think it’s important for our families to know, our kids to know we value recycling and re-using.” The K-8 school is located right next door to Moncton Headstart, an organization that helps many low-income families in the city. Last week, the organization announced they were discontinuing their annual Coats for Kids event due to a variety of reasons. Lewis said it’s unfortunate, but the school wasn’t aware of the decision and were planning a clothing drive of their own to get kids their coats as soon as possible. The school district has promoted the drive on social media and Bishop said he’s reached out to other schools in hopes of collecting some coats and other items from their lost and found. Bishop said Beaverbrook is enjoying the benefits of the province’s lunch program, “there’s always a need for food,” but come the colder months, there’s also a need for warmer clothing. “It’s not just newcomer families, it’s all of our families. We know that the price of living is going up and if we can provide something for our families to support them, we will do so,” said Bishop. Meanwhile, the clothing drive at Claude D. Taylor School in Riverview could use a bit of a push. Principal Megan Wilson said they operate the CDT Boutique all year to help clothe families for every season. The elementary school has recently added 75 students from an anglophone school in Dieppe that is at capacity. “A lot of our students are coming from other countries and have never experienced winter, so they don’t have any winter gear, so we have to clothe over 25 students this year and we’re having a bit of a challenge trying to find all of the winter gear that we need to help those families,” said Wilson. Winter boots are a top priority, but so are snow pants, coats, gloves, hats and even socks. Wilson said the need for clothing has increased significantly over the past few years. “We find that the need for a lot of families is going up, just with the price of everything. So, we have a lot of families that are reaching out. We are subsidizing 70 plus families for meals at lunchtime already. Our needs within our building have greatly increased and I know it has across the school district as well,” said Wilson. Clothing can be donated at the main entrance of Claude D. Taylor during school hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the same thing goes for Beaverbrook, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
