Many local students don’t need to worry about entering a school year without the proper supplies thanks to efforts from the community to “Stuff the Bus.”
The Kiwanis Club’s annual drive opens its doors to the community and many local organizations step up to the plate to assist the group in acquiring the massive amounts of school supplies. This year, Unity in the Community gave $10,000 for the project and Stingray Chevrolet gave $1,000 to help provide the large quantity of items required to pull off the elaborate project.
This year alone, there are approximately 1,250 backpacks fully assembled to be delivered to 28 schools of all levels and the Lots of Hugs summer program. This year the group is also delivering jackets to all 18 elementary schools on their list on top of the variety of backpacks.
Each bag is full of items needed for a successful school year including pencils, notebooks, crayons, journals, paper and more. The program will deliver at least 40 book bags per school, and those bags will then be distributed to students in need via the school’s guidance counselors.
Early Monday morning, volunteers from Plant City High School’s Key Club, Little Miss Plant City and Kiwanis gathered at Stingray Chevrolet to assemble the bags in a donated room upstairs. Massive piles of the donated items were neatly organized by school and the students quickly combed through the inventory.
The bags were delivered this morning to the schools and will be ready when students pour through the doors later this month.