Why Back to School Season Is the Hardest Time of Year for Canton Families — And How You Can Help

For most people back to school season feels like a fresh start.

New notebooks. A clean backpack. The optimism of a year that has not started yet. For families with the resources to make it happen that feeling is real and it matters.

But for a lot of Canton families back to school season feels like something else entirely. It feels like a bill that cannot be paid. A list of supplies that keeps getting longer. The quiet shame of a child who notices what everyone else has and what they are missing.

In Canton, Ohio where over 51 percent of children live in poverty that experience is not the exception. It is the norm. And We Can We Shall is doing something about it.

What We Are Raising For

Our Back to School fundraiser exists for one reason. Every child in Canton deserves to walk into the first day of school feeling ready. Not anxious about what they do not have. Not distracted by what they are missing. Ready. Confident. Like they belong there.

That feeling does not happen by accident. It happens when someone makes sure a child has what they need before the bell rings.

Every dollar raised through this campaign goes directly toward school supplies, backpacks, clothing, hygiene essentials, and back to school experiences for Canton's youth. No overhead. No administrative costs taking a cut. Direct impact for the kids who need it most.

Why the First Day Matters More Than We Think

Research on early school experiences is consistent and clear. The conditions a child starts the school year in shape how they engage with learning for the rest of it.

A child who walks in confident and prepared engages more. Asks more questions. Takes more risks. Believes more readily that they belong in that room and that the future the teacher is describing actually applies to them.

A child who walks in aware of what they are missing — the backpack that is not new, the supplies that are not complete, the clothing that does not match what everyone else is wearing — carries that awareness with them. It takes up cognitive and emotional space that should be occupied by learning.

The first day of school is not just a tradition. It is a signal that a child receives about where they stand. We Can We Shall exists to make sure every child in Canton receives the right signal.

How You Can Help

There are several ways to be part of this campaign.

Donate online at wecanweshall.org. Every amount makes a difference. Twenty five dollars covers school supplies for one child. Fifty covers hygiene essentials and supplies together. One hundred dollars fully funds one child's complete back to school experience.

Donate supplies directly. Backpacks, school supplies, clothing, and gift cards are all needed and all go directly to the children we serve.

Share this campaign. The reach of this fundraiser is limited only by how many people know about it. Share this post, this page, and this link with everyone in your network who cares about Canton's kids.

We Can. We Shall.

We Can We Shall launched in Canton in January 2026 with a promise to show up for the city's youth consistently and with intention. This Back to School fundraiser is one of the most direct expressions of that promise.

Every child in Canton deserves a strong start to the school year. Help us give them one.

Donate at wecanweshall.org. Share this with your community. And know that whatever you give goes directly to a child in Canton who needed someone to show up for them.

We can. We shall.