Rotary clubs provide backpacks to 51 Surrey students<\/p>\n
Published 6:00 pm Wednesday, September 9, 2026<\/p>\n
Fifty-one students at four White Rock and South Surrey elementary schools have headed back to class with a little extra support. <\/p>\n
The Rotary Club of White Rock and the Rotary Club of Semiahmoo teamed up this summer to provide backpacks filled with school supplies for students at Jessie Lee, White Rock, Ray Shepherd and Ocean Cliff elementary schools. <\/p>\n
The backpacks, which were delivered to school principals the week before classes began on Sept. 8, included a handful of helpful items to aid in these 51 students coming back to school. <\/p>\n
Items included:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Binders
\u2022 Paper
\u2022 Duotangs
\u2022 Exercise books
\u2022 Felt markers
\u2022 Pencil crayons
\u2022 Crayons
\u2022 Pencils
\u2022 Pens
\u2022 Sharpeners
\u2022 Rulers
\u2022 Calculators
\u2022 Geometry sets<\/p>\n
Carla Hanson, a member of the White Rock Rotary since 2012, explained that both clubs made sure each student received different backpacks, along with hygiene kits and fidget items. <\/p>\n
Hanson shared with Peace Arch News that this project came together after connecting with the Surrey school district while the club was renting a school gym for their annual book sale. <\/p>\n
\u201cI asked if they had anything available or if they needed help on any projects or ideas. They mentioned the backpacks,\u201d said Hanson.<\/p>\n
The Surrey School District provided the clubs with a list of four local elementary schools in the South Surrey and White Rock region that could use the support. <\/p>\n
Hanson then said she brought the idea to both Rotary clubs, where committees worked together to raise enough funding to provide backpacks for all four schools. <\/p>\n
While the clubs have previously supported local schools through Christmas hampers, this marks the first time they have taken on a back-to-school backpack project. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure we\u2019re getting out and helping people directly as much as we possibly can. We like any kind of hands-on project,\u201d said Hanson. <\/p>\n
Hanson shared that the backpacks were handed directly to the principals, who worked with school staff and families to make sure they reach students who need them most. <\/p>\n
The clubs funded the project through community fundraising efforts, including their twice-yearly book sale and annual Morgan Creek Golf Tournament. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that people know that we\u2019re in the community and we\u2019re here to help,\u201d said Hanson. <\/p>\n
Learn more about the White Rock Rotary Club whiterockrotary.org or the Semiahmoo Rotary Club at semiahmoorotary.org. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rotary clubs provide backpacks to 51 Surrey students Published 6:00 pm Wednesday, September 9, 2026 Fifty-one students at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-890270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}