Mack's Packs
Mackenzie
Sayers
macsayers
Mack's Packs
, ON
Yes
First Nations people.
Non-profit organization.
Less than a year
Students will enter an essay contest to receive necessary school supplies to give them the necessary tools to be successful in a new school year.
Start-Up (a project that is just getting started)
This program will have a positive social impact on First nations youth because it gives them the power to share their ideas on the importance of education giving them a voice for our needs as a people (with a focus on the youth's voice) while possibly preparing many for a new school year. Having such a program will benefit students who not only believe in the importance of education but also who may not have the financial means to prepare themselves for a new school year.
This year my goal is to set up a blog site to outline the program and allow entries to come in, in time for the 2012/13 year.
In five years, I hope that this program will provide scholarships to highschool students continuing onto post-secondary education with the assistance of donations each year (allowing it to grow). I also hope more back packs will be made possible through donations. This will allow more students to be prepared for a new school year and their voices to be heard allowing community leaders to see what tomorrow's people are facing, believing in, and trying to better themselves.
The only person involved thus far is myself, but now that my blog is officially up and running I hope donations start to poor in. This program is going to be featured in SAY magazine (February) which will also assist with donations to the program, hopefully. As more monies become available, more students can receive back packs.
This project will only be sustainable through donations as the outcome is not a product that can be utilized to produce an income but rather a service to our First Nations youth. I will also continue with a minimum of three winners in each category as this is coming out of my own pockets but I believe in this so much that I will continue to do this for many years. As a single mom this is all I can contribute at the time.
I hope to reach out to foundations who focus on projects that affect youth as well as businesses in the areas where the programs will be initiated. I recently applied for my local school to the Dreamcatcher's Fund and received a donation of $1000 for a similar program for the school that I teach in.
Currently the only support would be financial as this project can run out of my own home and because I am off during the summers I will utilize my own personal time to prepare the back packs and send them out via a shipping company. If the project expands, volunteers can assist in preparing the back packs and this can include community members that are affected by the project or local high school students who need volunteer hours to attain their high school diploma.
No (skip next two questions)