Volunteers from local Girl Scout troop 888 are helping United Way to Stuff the Bus
The United Way of the New River Valley kicked off its eleventh annual Stuff the Bus campaign this past Wednesday. The Stuff the Bus program is a school-supply drive for children in need in the New River Valley.
Locations throughout the community have drop bins available for donations through July 31 for community members to contribute to the effort.
A special Stuff the Bus Event will take place Saturday, July 25, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Christiansburg Walmart. For the first time ever, the campaign will also have be a location at the
Radford Walmart. Three school buses from Montgomery County, Radford City and Floyd County will be parked in front of the stores at both locations, and donors can come out and stuff the bus with school supplies to send local children back to school prepared to learn.
All items received in a specific community will be distributed to children in need in that community. All donations stay local to serve the needs of local children. Distribution of the school supplies this year will be through local partner charities and will be given to local school systems to help teachers.
In 2019, residents across the New River Valley provided badly needed school supplies to more than 586 children. In the wake of the pandemic, even more children need help this year.
Stuff the Bus has locations in Radford at the Radford Public Library, the Walmart and Taylor Office Supply. Locations in Floyd may be found at the Floyd County Tourism offices, and the Chamber of Commerce office. In Montgomery County, the bus may be stuffed at the Walmart in Christiansburg, the Kroger on Main Street in Blacksburg and the Dollar General in Riner.
A host of different school supplies are needed: backpacks, pink erasers, protractors, lunchboxes, safety scissors, compasses, binders, washable markers, graph paper, folders with pockets, colored pencils and Crayons, calculator, spiral notebooks, glue sticks, pens, notebook paper, pointed scissors, three- or five-special spiral notebooks, erasable ball-point pens, rulers, 5-tab index dividers. No. 2 pencils, 3 x 5 index cards and highlighters.
