United Way giving back with annual Stuff the Bus event

By Jazmine Knight

The United Way and other local organizations are partnering to give back to students before the start of the school year.

United Way volunteers, as well as members from the YWCA, UCP, Altec and Youth Alliance, joined forces for United Way’s Stuff the Bus event on Friday and Saturday.

Volunteers were posted outside of the North Belt and South Belt Walmarts, where they passed out flyers to the incoming patrons. Walmart guests were encouraged to purchase some school supplies and donate them to the bus once they finished shopping.

United Way accepted virtually anything, such as backpacks, notebooks, pencils, pens, disinfectant wipes, glue, scissors and more.

Traci Magee, mission support associate with United Way, said the nonprofit has been hosting the event since 2009. It’s a way to engage community members while giving back to area students.

“It decreases the burden that a lot of parents feel,” Magee said. “I know there’s just a lot of increased costs of a lot of things right now. And so school supplies are one way we can decrease the burden on our area families.”

Traci McChristy, volunteer and outreach director with the YWCA, said Stuff The Bus is a great way to help families who are struggling financially or have fallen on hard times. YWCA children oftentimes receive supplies from Stuff the Bus, therefore she feels like it’s important to give back.

“It’s important for us to, you know, just remind our community of where the money goes, where the items go and that it’s all local,” McChristy said. “They’re really working hard to support the kids here in our community.”

She said when the YWCA children receive their supplies, they are ecstatic.

“It’s a sense of pride and excitement … it was just pretty special to get something new and not something that’s used,” she said.

For McChristy, her favorite part is getting to know the community.

“It’s fun to see even the kids that walk in the store with their parents come back out with supplies for other kids,” she said. “I think that’s a nice experience for them to know that they’re helping other kids their age or anything.”

After all donations are collected, the Salvation Army will receive the supplies and distribute them to families.

Magee said none of this could be done without wonderful volunteers and the presenting partner, Mosaic Life Care. She’s thankful for everyone’s help during this event and the hard work from the St. Joseph community when it comes to purchasing these supplies.