Salvation Army stuffs backpacks with donated school supplies

By Leah Rainwater

After a successful weekend for United Way’s Stuff the Bus with nearly 19,000 school supplies collected, volunteers filled backpacks at the Salvation Army on Tuesday morning to give to area students.

“I don’t know the exact number, I know it’s in the … probably fill five to six hundred bags,” said Major Ron Key with the Salvation Army.

Volunteers formed an assembly line to fill the bags with what each child will need for grades kindergarten through 12th.

Filling a huge part of the assembly line were volunteers from International Paper Mill.

”We donate boxes every year to this cause to help out around St. Joe,” said Dave Eggleston, one of the volunteers from International Paper.

Eggleston said being able to hand out backpacks full of school supplies will cause a source relief to students, parents and teachers before the start of the school year.

”It’ll give ‘em a relief knowing they don’t have to go to school without supplies and … ya know, be embarrassed in front of their peers, they have just as much stuff as the other kids do,” said Eggleston.

Backpacks will be handed out at the Salvation Army on Thursday, Aug. 8, starting at 9 a.m. and ending when supplies run out.

Parents and guardians will have to bring proof of where their child attends school, as well as proof of address.

The Salvation Army encourages not to bring children to pick up the backpacks, if at all possible.