‘It’s amazing:’ back-to-school donations piling high for Nanaimo’s Fresh Start

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Donations of school supplies have been pouring into That 50’s Barbershop all August long, with volunteers helping to organize the supplies from a storage locker on Thursday, Sept. 3. (Image Credit: Fresh Start: Back to School on Facebook)

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'It's amazing:' back-to-school donations piling high for Nanaimo's Fresh Start

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He said it feels amazing to have this type of recognition at this point, recalling the difficulty he had with organizing the first few events.

Lawrence will spend the next few days organizing the donations before loading things up to ship them to the Plaza for Saturday morning.

Starting at 10 a.m., families can get their kids some school supplies and a fresh haircut for the cost of reading a short story or drawing a picture, with the event ending around 5 p.m.

Lawrence said more volunteers for the event are always needed to help organize, direct people, and provide entertainment for the kids while they wait, with face painters and cosplayers already lined up.

“We roughly get 300 kids, that’s 300 families. That’s a lot of people in Diana Krall Plaza. Even just kind of like traffic control and getting people where they need to be. So that’s a lot of bodies. We do have a lot of volunteers, but always more would be great.”

While he’s not sure if he’s the first one to come up with this idea, Lawrence said “it’s wild” to see other, similar events pop up across Canada.

“That’s one of the things we’ve talked about as we grow and change. At some point, this could get so big that we could set that up in other communities and do it. It’s needed all over. People struggle all over the place. So to see all these other barbers and people do it, it’s amazing. It’s great because, realistically, I’m exhausted, but it’s not that hard to do.”

Over $13,000 was raised during last year’s Fresh Start event.

More information can be found on the Fresh Start: Back to School Facebook page, or by emailing Lawrence at thatbarber@gmail.com.

While tired, Lawrence has been all smiles this week as he prepares for Saturday’s event. (Image Credit: Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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