By JIM FARIS
United Way's annual Stuff the Bus has returned for another year this weekend.
Volunteers will be outside both Walmart locations here in Saint Joseph, collecting school supplies for kids in need before school starts for the fall.
United Way is still looking for volunteers who can stand outside Walmart and hand out flyers, collect donated supplies, and load them onto a bus parked at each store.
United Way's Director of Community Investement Jodi Flurry says they're looking for around 250 people to show up and work hour and a half shifts across both days.
"We need volunteers, we also need school supplies. It's just the basic things that kiddos need, from kindergarten up to 12th Grade... So, what a kindergarten backpack looks like is very different than a high schooler backpack, but we want to make sure all students have what they need when they go to school that first day, so they're ready to learn. It might be crayons, it might be notebooks, paper, binders, pens, highlighters, sharpies, erasable markers, things like that. We need all those supplies... Probably, last year, between United Way and the Salvation Army, it was more than a thousand kids that received school supplies, to start the school year out right..."
"We've collected probably about 350,000 items of school supplies from our community, which is phenomenal. The support of the community, the generosity of the community, is really outstanding."
Flurry says Stuff the Bus is the single biggest volunteer event of the year for United Way, and that 350,000 figure represents the charity of Saint Joseph over the past 17 years.
Flurry adds that backpacks are the absolute most needed item, as they're typically priced out of the reach of kids in need.
Anyone who can't make it to Stuff the Bus can drop off their donations at the United Way office, 118 South 5th Street in Saint Joseph.
The timing of the event is important, too- this weekend is Missouri's tax holiday, letting back-to-school shoppers dodge state and local tax on school supplies, clothes, and computers.
Anyone who wants more information can call the United Way at (816) 364-2381, or visit their website at stjosephunitedway.org.
Journal