Backpacks for children in crisis
Containing comfort items
This year’s auction is more than just a fundraiser – it’s vital to keeping our mission alive. We’re a small, volunteer-run team, and every dollar raised helps fill backpacks for struggling youth facing the harshest of circumstances and supports the basic tools we need to stay operational. By participating in our auction, you give us a bit of breathing room to keep filling backpacks in 2026 while we work toward building other funding streams to subsidize new operational space.
Many of the young people we serve have endured deep trauma, instability, homelessness, and unthinkable levels of exploitation. Imagine a teen forced to leave home after violence, throwing whatever they can into a garbage bag before running out the door. Or a youth aging out of a justice facility, stepping into the street in the same dirty clothes they came in with and no safe place to go. These are the invisible kids — forgotten by most, but not by us.
Your bid or donation means that when one of these youth walks into an agency we support, they don’t leave empty-handed. They receive a backpack filled with dignity and belonging — hygiene items, clean clothes, socks, gloves, a toque, maybe a journal or comfort item — and the reminder that someone cared enough to prepare for them.
- Imagine a teen who leaves home in the middle of the night after violence and arrives at a drop-in centre with nothing but the clothes on their back — an I Belong Bags backpack means they have a clean change of clothes, hygiene items, and something to carry their belongings with dignity.
- Imagine a young person transitioning out of youth justice with a garbage bag of their things and nowhere safe to land — that backpack brings dignity: a clean shirt, deodorant, a toothbrush and hairbrush, maybe a bus pass, and the sense that someone cared.
- Imagine a 14-year-old on the street, who has been homeless or exploited, is approached by a social worker and police outreach team and provided a backpack filled with warm items for a cold day and gift card for a hot meal — it builds trust, offers comfort, and gives them a glimpse of safety and belonging, not just survival.
These are the youth we serve. When you share our auction link or spread the word, you help us reach more people who believe in our mission. Because without this auction, we can’t show up for these youth when their self-worth is shattered and they feel most alone. Help us make sure they are not forgotten — or invisible — on what might be the worst day of their lives.
A Bag Full of Belonging
Every year, the number of children receiving crisis intervention in Alberta has rises.
With a monthly average of over 10,000 at-risk youth cases being managed by government child services programs, children and youth need your help more than ever.
Many of these kids have been displaced from their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs or a garbage bag stuffed with their belongings. The despair and hopelessness a child can feel in this moment may last a lifetime. This is where we come in.
I Belong Bags’ goal is to remind every child in crisis that they belong and matter, by giving them a backpack filled with comfort and essential items. This impactful gesture will disrupt the chain of trauma one bag at a time.
See our story on CTV news
Thank you to our primary sponsor, Sentinel Storage, for providing the storage lockers we use to store, build and distribute backpacks.
Inspire your friends, family and community to donate in-kind items. Collect for us and deliver to one of our three Sentinel Storage locations or email us to arrange a pick up: info@ibelongbags.com