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  • Rhonda McCowen, executive director of United Way of South Central Illinois thanks Ed Beck of Beck Bus for not only donating the bus for the Stuff the Bus event, but for coming through and providing the last of the supplies and backpacks needed to meet the final goal of the community-wide effort. SUBMITTED PHOTO

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August 7, 2008

Stuff the Bus campaign reaches goal

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — As students begin registering for school this week, the Stuff the Bus drive has reached its goal of collecting enough school supplies for students in Jefferson County which qualify for free or reduced price lunches.

“We ended up using all the supplies we had, and we had one school that needed 50 bags,” Rhonda McCowen, executive director of the United Way of South Central Illinois said. “We only had 37 to give them. We knew if we didn’t do something, those kids wouldn’t have supplies.”

Last Friday, the group was still short of its goal, and a last-minute push had brought them to within 13 bags of supplies, McCowen said.

“People saw in the newspaper that we needed some things, and they called and said, ‘What can we do,’” McCowen said. “We thought we had everything taken care of, then we got the call that we were still short.”

McCowen said she was at the United Way office talking about how to cover the shortage, when she received a phone call from Ed Beck of Beck Bus Transportation.

“We were talking about how to round up some supplies, when Ed called and asked if we still needed help,” McCowen said. “He said, ‘I want to help finish off what you need.’ He saved the day at the last minute.”

McCowen spent Wednesday afternoon purchasing the supplies. She said she still expects to have some requests from schools “trickle down” due to new children moving into districts and students who are newly qualified for free or reduced lunches. The United Way can purchase supplies for the students who may be remaining at a cost of between $12 and $15 per student, McCowen said.

In addition to donations, McCowen said volunteers also responded to the needs of Stuff the Bus.

“I was stressing about how to get all the bags packed,” McCowen said. “Two thousand bags of supplies is a lot, and we had a small core group. We had another eight people who have never worked with the United Way before who just showed up and say they wanted to volunteer. I get goosebumps thinking about it, I’m so happy. To know the community came forward and pulled together to do this for the students so they can succeed, it’s just phenomenal. I can’t express how proud I am of this community.”

Thanks to Stuff the Bus, 2,012 children received school supplies, with 1,060 receiving both a backpack and supplies. The community donated numerous miscellaneous items, including 16,494 boxes of pencils; 11,143 boxes of colored pencils; 7,922 notebooks; 4,140 pens; 3,912 erasers; 2,942 pocket folders; 1,862 boxes of crayons; 1,799 glue sticks; 1,664 bottles of glue; 1,283 pair of scissors; and 1,225 boxes of markers. McCowen reported a total of 51,767 total items collected including boxes and individual items.

All schools in the county have received supplies for students except Woodlawn and Ina, which are expected to pick them up later this week, McCowen said.

“Today, I stopped by District 80, and the students there are getting the supplies as part of registration,” McCowen said. “We have volunteers there to give out backpacks and supplies. The kids are so grateful, they just can’t wait to break the bags open to see what’s inside. It just shows that going back to school is a big part of their life, and everyone — the 47 businesses that collected supplies and the hundreds of individuals who collected supplies and gave donations to purchase supplies — have really made a difference.”

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