ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
August officially begins Thursday, and a new school year will be here quicker than many think.
For the remainder of the time before the academic calendar officially goes into effect, many parents will be found combing store aisles looking for school supplies to help their children have a successful year in the classroom.
For some, though, school supplies prove to be more expensive than they can afford, and this weekend, Seward County United Way is helping get items for those families.
Friday and Saturday, SCUW will have a USD 480 school bus parked outside of Dillon’s in Liberal to allow shoppers purchasing school supplies to donate those supplies to families in need as part of the annual Stuff the Bus school supply food drive.
United Way Director Diana Esparza-Villarreal said the event is not a fundraiser for the organization, but rather a way to get donations of school supplies to give back to the community, its children and the USD 480 school district.
“We collect donations of school supplies, whether it’s notebooks, pencils or crayons, so we can give back to those who are in need,” she said. “School supplies can become really expensive and be a burden to some families. We like to do this to help them out to be able to have those supplies for the school year.”
Typically, Stuff the Bus features two school buses, one at Dillon’s and one at Walmart, but Esparza-Villarreal said Walmart seemed to be taking longer with what was necessary to put a bus there.
“We do not want to wait as school approaches,” she said. “We will just be outside Dillon’s. People are welcome to purchase school supplies elsewhere and bring them to us.”
This is Esparza-Villarreal’s third Stuff the Bus drive as director, and she has also participated in the event as a United Way volunteer. She said in either capacity, the event has always gone well.
“What we would give would be way more because we would collaborate with the coalition and do the backpacks,” she said. “It used to more, but those donations we would always receive from the community has always been the same. They’ve always been really generous to give donations.”
Esparza-Villarreal said past collections have featured everything in the world of school supplies, and she expects similar results from this year’s event. She did say, though, one particular item seems to be a large part of what Stuff the Bus yields.
“We do get a lot of crayons,” she said. “Throughout the school year, teachers and students need new crayons.”
The drive too benefits students all the way from the age of preschool through those in high school.
“We receive the donations, and at the end of it, I’ll go through them as to what the high school would need and what the preschools and elementaries would need,” Esparza-Villarreal said. “Notebooks are as much needed at a preschool as they are the high school.”
While she did not have exact numbers as to how many families benefit from Stuff the Bus, Esparza-Villarreal said boxes are distributed to social workers in the schools, and parents can contact the social workers to obtain needed supplies.
“We don’t necessarily see how many there are, but I believe there’s quite a few,” she said.
Whether it is school supplies or other items, Esparza-Villarreal said it is always important to donate when possible.
“It all stays within our community when you do it through United Way,” she said. “This gives back to our kids here in USD 480 of all ages. You don’t know how many families can’t purchase those school supplies, and you need them in order to learn. It’s important to have those children be able to be settled for the school year.”
Stuff the Bus is a United Way event, but Esparza-Villarreal said volunteers from SCUW’s agencies help with the drive too. She added she is thankful to Dillon’s for allowing the drive to take place at its store and to USD 480 for providing the school bus for the annual event.
“We are really thankful for those who let us be out there, especially USD 480 for so many years to provide us a bus and be outside and able to stuff,” she said.
For those unable to make it Dillon’s this weekend, Esparza-Villarreal said United Way officials can also be contacted to leave supplies or donate money to help out.
“We also take cash donations, and we’ll go buy the school supplies we’re needing,” she said. “There’s some people who don’t necessarily want to go to school supply aisles, but they’ll leave cash, and we’ll go purchase them.”
Esparza-Villarreal said school supplies will be delivered to school social workers a week before school starts. She said while she is excited for all United Way events, the upcoming Stuff the Bus is particularly exciting for her.
“I like school supplies even though they’re not for me,” she said. “It’s always exciting to be able to help a family who is in need. It’s a fun event. It’s not necessarily to get any funds for United Way, but it’s giving back to our community. It’s always exciting.”
For more information on the drive, Esparza-Villarreal said that can be found on social media.
“They can get information on our Facebook page,” she said. “That is mainly where we post everything. We do have Instagram as well, or if they have any other questions, they can always message us or call us.”
So what will it take to Stuff the Bus? Esparza-Villarreal said it starts with many donations.
“We don’t put a long bus out there,” she said. “We do have a short bus. It needs to not be so hot so we don’t have melted crayons as we have in previous years.”
