United Way's school supply drive receives thousands of donations

Aug. 9—The United Way of Greater St. Joseph collected over 17,000 school supplies through its "Stuff the Bus" event on Aug. 5-6.

Community members, both volunteers and donors, showed their support for students across the area, bringing in donations at a critical time in the back-to-school season.

"We had an amazing response from the community. For the volunteer side of things, we had about 200 individuals donating their time to help collect the school supplies. We had about 17,840 items that were collected, which is amazing and showcases the generosity of our community. We also received about $2,300 in financial donations," said Jodi Flurry, director of community investment for United Way.

United Way is now distributing the donations to various partner agencies and organizations, including the Salvation Army, which is putting on a school supply distribution event on Aug. 11.

These supply drives not only offer opportunities for community engagement, but they play an important role in ensuring that students are able to excel in the classroom.

"This is to engage as many people in a simple concept, a simple effort, that can help so many people, so it engages them by volunteering or donating supplies," Flurry said. "It then helps hundreds and hundreds of students across the community, as well as teachers in schools, because when students have the supplies they need to start the school year, they're ready to go and their teachers can do what they need because the kids have the supplies they need."

Individuals who were unable to participate in Stuff the Bus can still donate by contacting the United Way of Greater St. Joseph or by attending the upcoming "Bring A Backpack" event at Chick-Fil-A on Aug. 13.

Lilyann Gardner can be reached at lilyann.gardner@newspressnow.com