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Most students see the summer vacation as a chance to kick back and relax — after ten months of school. But we found one local teenager didn’t slow down this summer. 13-year old Tristynn Przybysz spent the summer helping others. When she found out some kids couldn’t afford school supplies — she took matters into her own hands.

Tristynn Przybysz is packing a backpack full of supplies for the first day of school. But it’s not for her: “I know there’s a lot of kids downtown, even on the mountain where I live that need school supplies and are unable to because of their financial situation, so I decided I was going to help them out.”

She used some of her own money and, in mid-July, she began looking for donations: “I started making flyers, talked to my friends and neighbours asking for school supplies for kids downtown.”

She held a bake sale, raising $190. And before long, the idea snowballed and others started taking up the cause. An office supply store gave her the teachers discount and others price matched. A local gym started collecting donations.

Tristynn: “We had a huge box at the gym and we had five star members donate what they could.”

In all, about 500 worth of supplies was donated to two schools — Hess Street and Cathy Wever. Paul Denomme, principal at Cathy Wever, says it will really make a difference:
“It’s amazing, it helps out a lot of our families with school supplies, a lot of extras that kids can utilize with the classroom.”

As Tristynn and her grandmother unload the second batch of pencils, paper and books. Her summer project shows that sometimes the best lessons in life are learned simply by helping others.

Eileen Kowalyshyn is Tristynn’s Grandmother: “We cant be more proud for a child to inspire others and help her community. What can I say.”

Tristynn: “I really had fun doing it”