Stuff the Bus was started by Sanford’s safe schools, healthy students initiative through a three-year federal grant. The goal of the grant was to start a program that improved the lives of Sanford’s at-risk children, which means the family’s income falls below the poverty line and puts them at risk for homelessness, hunger and other poverty-related issues.
Families were asked what kinds of programs would most help their family, and Stuff the Bus was born. The company that I work for received a donation request from United Way of York County, and because I was campaign coordinator, I asked my company for a $100 donation to purchase some school supplies. The next year, the director asked me to volunteer at the distribution, and I was hooked.
The third year, in May, we had our first meeting to kick off the drive, when the director announced that she could no longer lead the project and there was talk of canceling it all together. Not wanting to see that happen, I stepped in as director.
Our distribution is different than most other programs. We don’t just hand kids a bag of stuff, we invite them to an event. The parents are not allowed in the gym, since this is about the kids, and each child is assigned a “personal shopper.” They are given a grade-appropriate list provided by the school department and are taken into the gym. The first thing they do is pick out their own backpack, and then they go from table to table choosing their own supplies. They exit the gym and their security number is matched to the adult who brought them, and they are off and ready to learn.
This program has gone from serving 100 kids the first year to more than 1,400 last year, including sending more than 1,000 pieces to Ethiopia, via a mission trip of Curtis Lake Church. In the villages that they visit, if a child comes to school without a writing implement, they are sent home. The teachers are poor as well, and can’t buy them for their students like the teachers in this country often do.
I also added teacher tables to the program, because as a parent volunteer, I learned that most teachers furnish the books, decorations and supplies for their classrooms from their own pockets. We are now collecting gently used band instruments for the middle schools band program as well.
We are now proud to be serving the children of Sanford’s local active duty servicemen and -women. All this happens because of the wonderful businesses and especially the churches that get on board the bus and partner with us to make sure that every child matters. Their success in school is vital to our communities health as a whole.
Feel free to hop aboard the bus, too. We’d love to have you.
Wanda Parent, director, Sanford/Springvale Stuff the Bus school supply initiative
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