Our Story

Carrying Sammy’s legacy forward

After the devastating loss of our son Sammy on November 12, 2020, we were left heartbroken and searching for a way to keep his memory alive. We didn’t want anyone to forget him.

In June or early July of 2021, while part of a Facebook group for grieving parents, we came across a comment that deeply resonated with us—someone mentioned backpacks as a way to honour their child. That idea stuck with us.

We talked about it as a family. I asked my husband, Sam, what he thought about donating backpacks in Sammy’s name. We decided to start with 19 backpacks—one for every year of Sammy’s life. He thought it was a beautiful idea. We made our first Facebook post sharing our vision to provide backpacks filled with school supplies to kids in our community.

The response was overwhelming.

We received close to 40 backpacks and generous donations, including enough to place a $25 gift card in each backpack to help kids purchase shoes if they needed them. Every year since, the donations have grown—so have the number of people and organizations contributing. Some supporters now collect donations at their workplaces to help.

This act of giving has become our way of honouring Sammy. He was kind, smart, funny, caring, compassionate, and incredibly loving. He had a beautiful soul. Helping others came naturally to him—he always put others before himself and was the first to step in when someone needed support.

We truly believe this is something Sammy would be proud of. His mission in life was to help people, and through Sammy’s Backpacks, we’re continuing that mission in his name.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all who have supported us—past, present, and future. Special thanks to our family and friends, and to our generous community supporters:
Tracy Brush, Story Home Furniture, Arauco, Avery Construction, Walmart, and Pino’s Get Fresh.

We hope to continue Sammy’s legacy for many years to come.

With love,
Sammy’s Family