Students in Elliot Lake are about to get a big surprise delivered tomorrow, courtesy of a Tourism London van.

The van is carrying backpacks for every school-age child, full of school supplies.

The town is still recovering from the deadly collapse of the Algo Centre Mall in June, and Londoner Cheryl Finn, who has family there and who grew up in the town, wanted to find a way to help.

She is the Director of Sports Tourism for Tourism London, and spearheaded the collection campaign asking some of her corporate connections for help.

Finn says she can't wait to surprise the kids.

"I'm very excited and I'm very proud of London and proud of the people who donated. This is just a wonderful gift that I get to give to the people of Elliot Lake".

She says they had a goal of 1,300 bags for every school-age child, but ended up collecting enough for 1,354 school bags.

She says it's thanks to many partnerships like London Police, St. Thomas Firefighters, Talbot Marketing, Grand Touring Cars/Premier Automotive Group as well as Bell Aliant.