$7K shopping spree helps P.E.I. students in need

Belinda Woods, who runs the Free Store in Summerside, P.E.I., just got back from an exciting shopping spree.

The store, which provides free items donated from the community, has been working to put aside as many donations as possible before Island students head back to school.

Last month an Island man donated thousands of dollars after he heard the store was in need of donations to purchase clothing for boys.

Woods says by taking advantage of sales and discounts a total of $7,000 in clothes was purchased.

"The total came to over $7,000 but with discounts it came to just a little over $5,000," she said.

Keep shopping

She said families emailed her sizes and requests and staff made a lengthy trip to Old Navy.

"We had racks and we had carts and we kept filling it and filling it," Woods said.

I have a bigger SUV and I filled it from top to bottom with clothing so it was pretty exciting.— Belinda Woods

When Woods and Free Store staff got to the checkout, they were in for another surprise. 

"We still had another $2,000 to go shopping for," Woods said she called the donor and he told her to spend it — so back into the store they went to shop some more.

"I have a bigger SUV and I filled it from top to bottom with clothing so it was pretty exciting," she said.

Woods was going to count how many items she bought, but the shopping got "too busy.

"I know that we got well over the 100 outfits that we were hoping for," she said.

She took the list of items from the emails and Facebook messages parents sent and sorted the clothes into bags based on size and put them into alphabetical order to make it easier to distribute the clothes, she said.

"When people came in we were able to grab the bags and give them to them pretty quickly," Woods said.

Excited for new clothes

She said everyone was excited to get new clothes and each bag probably contained about $100 in clothes. Woods has been receiving messages from parents and guardians who are grateful for the donations.

"You could tell the relief and appreciation from a lot of the parents as well. They were quite happy to be able to … not have that worry," Woods said.

School starts for most Island students Thursday and Woods is feeling good the Free Store has done its part to help out.

"I feel absolutely fantastic," she said, adding that she can't imagine how amazing the donor must feel by helping so many young Islanders.

Items that couldn't be purchased at Old Navy were bought at the Summerside Superstore, Woods said.

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