Back to School with School Savvy 2023: Stats and feedback from January

Centacare NQ’s third year of operating School Savvy Pop-Up shops has come to a close. This year School Savvy popped up in 4 locations across North Queensland, including, Townsville, Burdekin, Cloncurry and Mount Isa.

“The School Savvy shops are an upcycling initiative aimed at providing affordable school uniforms and supplies for those families most in need”, said Centacare NQ Director of Client Services, Stephen Burrowes.

This back-to-school season School Savvy has recorded assisting over 1000 families, equating to 1831+ children across North Queensland.

A customer feedback form was available across the sites and over 250 were completed. Key questions were focused on whether the customer felt we had made a difference, whether they felt respected, were satisfied with the service, and what was useful about the service. See below a snapshot of the feedback received.

“Helped a lot with the cost of school needs!”

“Allows everyone access to affordable school uniforms and supplies”

“Very helpful, no judgement”

“Financially School Savvy is a godsend. I will donate next year it’s a wonderful project”

“Without this service it would be extremely difficult to provide my children with all of their needs for school and home”

“This is a wonderful concept, especially for families with multiple children”

“As a single mum this time of year is very challenging. So thank you for taking some stress away”

“My daughter now has more than one uniform to wear”

“I had to choose between uniforms and buying food this fortnight.. because of this service I can now do both”

“You made a huge difference to our household this pay”

“I’m just starting out again and in financial need. School Savvy helped get extra uniforms for my children”

An overwhelming amount of survey respondents were in support of the positive impact that School Savvy has made to the start of their back-to-school preparations.

School Savvy relies on the generosity of the community to donate pre-loved school uniforms, “The most sought after uniforms are often the schools that have the lowest amount of stock donated to the School Savvy program.” said volunteers of the School Savvy shop.

"All monies raised from the pop-up shops are reinvested back into the program. This year we were able to purchase some new uniforms for the hard to source schools " said Stephen Burrowes, Director Client Services, Centacare NQ

“We can’t make this program happen without corporate and community support. We welcome the opportunity to talk more with businesses who may be interested in getting involved later in the year as we work towards preparation for the 2024 school year.” said Mr Burrowes

Special mention to:

Queensland Country Bank who came on board for the third year as a Gold Sponsor of the initiative. As well as providing staff to assist in the Townsville and Burdekin pop up shops as part of their Community Volunteer Program.

Tosco Office National who supported us with the sourcing of school stationery and pre-packed the pencil cases.

Vinnies who accommodated our School Savvy NQ collection bins in each of their Vinnies shops across the region.

Orange Sky Australia who came to our Ross River Road location to assist in washing and drying donated uniforms.

MMG Limited who support our Cloncurry branch of School Savvy program. This has allowed the Cloncurry community in need to receive back-to-school school packs. 

MMG Community Relations Team, Cloncurry Police Liaison Officer and one of the Cloncurry Police Officers who volunteered at the School Savvy Cloncurry Event.

Erika’s Hair Studio who came onsite for back-to-school haircuts in Cloncurry, funded by our Sponsors of School Savvy Cloncurry

Also generous donations from local schools and support from members of the community.

The School Savvy appeal will once again start in October. If you would also like to get involved in this rewarding initiative. Please contact us at schoolsavvy@centacarenq.org.au or 1300 672 273 to request a School Savvy NQ in partnership Proposal 2023/24. To find more information about School Savvy visit www.centacarenq.org.au