Q&A: Carolyn's Community gives backpacks, supplies to Montreal families in need

Carolyn Bouchard-MacNeil is a mother of three and has run a toy drive for over 20 years, donating gifts for children and women in over 70 shelters.

The Carolyn's Community toy drive has expanded to coat and food collections over the winter holidays, as well as back-to-school collections.

Bouchard-MacNeil spoke to CTV News anchor Caroline Van Vlaardingen about this year's drive.

Watch the full interview above. Some comments have been edited for grammar or time.

Caroline Van Vlaardingen: Carolyn, the last time I met you, you were gathering toys for kids over the holidays, and now you're gathering school supplies.

Carolyn Bouchard-MacNeil: We started our backpack collection about four years ago, just after COVID-19 hit, to help families in need in the community.

Van Vlaardingen: What have you been doing over those four years? Is this happening just at this time of the year, or do you gather things all year round?

Bouchard-MacNeil: Apart from the toy drive that we are running, we're going into our 22nd year in December.

We now do a backpack collection for the last eight years. We also do food drives in local schools.

We do a coat collection in October, as well as, all year round, collecting furniture and clothing for families in need around Montreal.

Van Vlaardingen: How do you identify the families in need?

Bouchard-MacNeil: I did become a nonprofit, so we are now called Carolyn's Community. I'm happy to say that that happened last year. A

t Christmas time, it's about over 40 women's shelters and 40 different organizations throughout the greater part of Montreal.

For the backpack and the furniture and the food and that sort of thing, we run probably with about 10 different organizations and shelters that I'm in constant contact with.

So, they come to my house almost on a weekly basis to gather the different items that I'm collecting. So, I would consider myself a B-to-B nonprofit at this point.

Van Vlaardingen: And the families that benefit from this, the kids that benefit from this, what kind of a difference does it make to them to their start of school?

Bouchard-MacNeil: As we all know, me, having three children myself, all of them always kind of want new backpacks at the start of school.

We try to use them for as many years as we can before we pass them along, but I know firsthand how expensive things can be, especially this year.

Seeing that I've done this for many years for my own children, my eldest being 17, I can tell you that the prices have shot up just on like a pack of markers or crayons or this type of thing.

So, it just takes a lot of financial burden off the families so that they can focus on getting other things that they need for their families.

Van Vlaardingen: Inflation has had a real effect on school supplies?

Bouchard-MacNeil: It's a big problem, and by just giving them the basics. I wanted to point out that we do new backpacks for all the kids and new supplies.

I would like to branch off in a couple of years, if we can get more help from the community, to open up like a drop off for used supplies but for now, it's all new, I'm happy to report, through the fundraising that we do.

Those who would like to donate or support the cause can go to the Carolyn's Community website.