Backpacks, pencils, new clothes and a fresh haircut are some of the costs associated with heading back to the classroom – and they don’t come cheap. 

With little over a week before the start of the new school year, a Nanaimo barber is hoping to ease the burden by offering free haircuts and backpacks filled with school essentials.

In exchange for the free swag, he simply asks each child to read him a story.

The owner of That 50’s Barber Shop said the idea came to him about a year ago, when his friends heard about a barber giving free haircuts to kids in need in the U.S.

Last year, Dave Lawrence helped 60 kids in the Nanaimo area with their back-to-school needs. This year he hopes to double that.

“You really are looking at a couple hundred dollars, so for a lot of families that’s a lot of money, that’s a hard stressful time,” Lawrence told CTV News.

As a father of three, he said he understands how much the school year can cost.

“I think there definitely are people that can’t afford that at all and that’s why this is great to help those people out,” Lawrence said.

It highlights a bigger issue in the Nanaimo region, he says.

“I think it’s a very large issue that I think a lot of people don’t know about,” Lawrence noted. “There needs to be more in place to help out people that kind of fall under the poverty line.”

According to the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Schools Foundation, it’s estimated one-in-five students across the district are considered to be living in poverty, which adds up to about 2,800 students.

“Our community has a lot of families that struggle financially and they need the extra help as far as providing support for students going back to school, the added cost of school supplies and getting ready to go back,” said Crystal Dennison, executive director of the foundation.

Nanaimo is high on the list when it comes to child poverty in Canada, Dennison says.

The foundation is currently in the middle of their “Stock the Locker” campaign, which raises funds to support students with purchasing school supplies, lunch food programs and other school fees.

“It’s expensive to send your kids to school,” Dennison added. “It’s definitely challenging for families.”

With a report from CTV Vancouver Island’s Jessica Lepp