by Sarah Thomack
St. Joseph Post
There may not be a bus to stuff this year, but the United Way is still collecting donations for students in need.
The United Way of Greater St. Joseph holds a yearly "Stuff the Bus" event the first weekend in August at local Walmart locations to collect school supplies, which are then distributed through the Salvation Army to students in need.
“This year we’re going to do it a little bit differently because of COVID,” says Kylee Strough, United Way of Greater St. Joseph President. “We won’t actually be stuffing a school bus with supplies, but we will still be collecting supplies, just (with) a little bit different method.”
Strough says distributing supplies will also be a different process this year.
“In the past, there’s been a scheduled day at the Salvation Army where all the supplies through Stuff the Bus are distributed and it means that hundreds of families, adults and children, line up at the Salvation Army and get their supplies," Strough says. "Distribution is going to happen in a more direct way with actual school districts in our area this year.”
An in-person collection event will take place July 31st and August 1st at the drive-in movie nights in the East Hills Shopping Center east side parking lot.
“The movie that night will be ‘Field of Dreams,’ so you build a baseball field and you hope they will come, we partner with the drive-in movie and hope people will bring supplies.”
Strough says they also hope that by collecting and distributing school supplies, they can help provide some normalcy as the upcoming school year may look different due to the pandemic.
“We also know that there are a lot of families that are still impacted, they’ve had their job hours changed, their income cut, they might have lost a job completely due to a layoff because of COVID and the economic downturn,” Strough says. “So anything we can do to help provide a little less stress for families is a place we as United Way and as a community should want to be.”
The United Way is collecting donations of school supplies now until August 14th.
Drop off locations for school supplies include United Way of Greater St. Joseph at 118 S. 5th Street, The Salvation Army at 602 Messanie Street and AFL-CIO Community Services at 1203 N. 6th Street. Supplies can also be purchased at either St. Joseph Walmart and dropped in bins labeled STUFF THE BUS! located near customer service. United Way can also schedule a porch pick-up of supplies.
For more information contact the United Way of Greater St. Joseph at (816) 364-2381 or visit stjosephunitedway.org.