By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Missouri’s Tax-Free weekend means it’s also time to help the United Way of Greater St. Joseph Stuff the Bus with school supplies for kids in need.
Today and tomorrow, the big yellow buses will be sitting in front of both the north and south belt Walmart’s, with volunteers collecting school supplies to be distributed to students in need.
Director of Community Invesment Jodi Flurry says volunteers will be handing out lists at each Walmart location on the day to shoppers
“Letting the donors or the shoppers know what we need for school supplies and what the priority items are, as well as just the full of school supplies, and this is based on the list of school supplies from the St. Joseph School District,” Flurry tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
Flurry says some of the bigger items that they need donated are backpacks
“Cause backpacks are a little more expensive, you know you might be able to get a pack of crayons for 50 cents, but a backpack is going to cost a little more than that, so we usually have a need for backpacks,” Flurry explains. “Three ring binders, we provide school supplies for kids from kindergarten through high school.”
Flurry says there’s also a need for crayons, markers, notebooks, pencil boxes, and sharpies among other school supplies as they try to help every kind of student.
Since 2009, residents have donated more than 300,000 school supplies to Stuff the Bus to be distributed by United Way to students in need ahead of the new school year.
Flurry says she’s blown away by the community’s generosity to the program
“To say that more than 300,000 school supply items have been collected and distributed out to area kids since this started in 2009 is really amazing,” Flurry says. “And the school supplies do go out through the Salvation Army as well as other United Way programs.”
Today from 8am to 7pm and tomorrow from 8am until 5:30pm, the United Way will have school buses parked in front of both the north and south belt Walmart locations, gathering school supplies.
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You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
