About
1 in 5 students attending school in Peel Region faces issues related to poverty that prevent them from fully participating in school.
Many students come to school hungry because there’s no food at home. Others lack basic necessities like winter clothing or school supplies. Students also face difficult challenges in the home environment where a parent or guardian has lost a job or there’s an emergency situation that requires a compassionate response.
The Peel Learning Foundation is a community based, charitable organization that raises funds to enable Peel District School Board students to achieve personal excellence by providing resources that help them overcome barriers.
Our goal is to raise funds to level the playing field and help students do more and achieve more.
Our Impact
In 2020, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Peel Learning Foundation helped more than 1,400 students in need through the Student Emergency Needs Program and the Student Backpack Program – more than twice as many as the year before.
Since the start of the pandemic, Foundation staff continued to raise funds and respond to requests for students in need. Most support is provided via electronic gift cards that can be emailed directly to students and their caregivers.
Here is what students, caregivers and staff say about the Peel Learning Foundation and our work to support students in need:
“These funds made it possible for a family who is struggling with employment, immigration challenges and settlement to buy essential clothing for winter. The family was exceptionally grateful. When I asked if they would prefer a digital or hard copy gift card, the father responded that he was not sure because he had never received a gift card before and did not know how they worked. He was very grateful for the foundation’s kindness.”
How your gift will be used
Making a gift in your will is one of the most caring, forward thinking ways that you can ensure that the playing field is level for all students and they all have the same chance to achieve personal excellence.
Legacy gifts to the Peel Learning Foundation will:
- support individual students with food and clothing, medical supplies, eyeglasses and transportation costs, or other emergency needs.
- provide backpacks filled with school supplies that students need to fully participate in regular classroom work. The backpacks will be provided to students in need in a respectful and confidential manner. They are tailored for students in kindergarten to grade 3, grades 4 to 8, and grades 9 to 12.
As the Peel Learning Foundation continues to grow and evolve, your gift can fund more and more supports for students in need for the Student Emergency Needs Program and the Student Backpack Program – and other programs that we may develop in the future — such as providing laptops for students in need or providing scholarships. These are some of the wonderful things that your future gift can do.
