Dave Thompson and Tammy Allarie organized the donation of 170 full backpacks of school supplies.
Tammy Allarie remembers how confident she felt as a kid on the first day of school when she could blend into the crowd with a new backpack filled with pencils and notebooks.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
“School supplies shopping was a big deal every year. It’s a good way to start positively. School’s tough sometimes, so, if you can get off on the right start, you’re partway there,” she said.
Allarie, who moved to Ottawa at 13 from Newfoundland, also remembers noticing some of the other kids who did not enter the new school year with fresh supplies.
This memory stuck with her decades later after she met Dave Thompson while working as one of the owners of the Ottawa Megadome, an indoor FIFA-sized field in Stittsville.
The Ottawa Citizen’s best journalism, delivered directly to your inbox by 7 p.m. on weekdays.
By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.
The next issue of The Evening Citizen will soon be in your inbox.
We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again
Interested in more newsletters? Browse here.
According to Allarie, Thompson, who runs the Megadome with her, was a generous guy.
The former owner of a snowplowing company, he recalled one especially warm holiday season — either 2008 or 2009 — when his mother’s cousin had just passed away and he filled dump trucks of “snow” from local arenas to drop off on her front lawn.
