Home Local News Stuff the Bus hauls in 32K supplies for Richmond County students

Stuff the Bus hauls in 32K supplies for Richmond County students

Caleb Talton checks a box to see what's in it before handing it off to Matthew Pait to stack in a seat during Wednesday's Stuff the Bus campaign.
William R. Toler - Richmond Observer

ROCKINGHAM — A group of student volunteers spent part of their Wednesday loading more than 30,000 supplies on a school bus parked in front of Walmart.

The volunteers, from the Richmond Senior High School Beta Club and National Honor Society, sorted paper, notebooks, pencils, markers, crayons, glue sticks and other supplies on the seats for the annual Stuff the Bus campaign.

The effort, organized by the United Way of Richmond County, is now in its 13th year of helping make sure local students have what they need as school starts back.

UWRC Executive Director Michelle Parrish said there were 53 sponsors this year — “which is the most we’ve ever had.”

Most of the sponsors made monetary donations to the cause — an estimated $9,000 — with the United Way using the funds to purchase supplies. Two of the sponsoring businesses donated items directly, according to Parrish.

Some of the sponsors were new, while others have been participating in the event for years.

Parrish also said that the weather was “perfect,” with cloud cover keeping temperatures lower than normal. The event was rescheduled from Tuesday to Wednesday because of rain.

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“We’ve had great community support,” Parrish said, adding that it was nice to have the student volunteers again, since they couldn’t help out last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s been a blessing to see them,” Parrish said.

In addition to the students, the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce and Planet Fitness also helped out.

After stuffing the bus, the students counted and sorted the 32,000 supplies to be distributed among the county’s schools on Thursday.

Parrish thanked everyone who supported the event.

“We couldn’t do it without our community supporting it and to give back to our kids that are in need to make sure they have a great start to their school year.

 



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