The bell has rung, school is in session, and children are back in school prepared to learn. 478 of those children were aided by our community uniting to collect school supplies through United Way’s annual Stuff the Bus school supply drive. United Way of Montgomery, Radford and Floyd extends a HUGE thank you to the local New River Valley community for donating over 10,600 school supplies.
The United Way Stuff the Bus campaign saw widespread support from our community and served more students than ever! This year’s drive surpassed last year’s efforts, helping 51 additional children and collecting over 3,000 more items. Local businesses collected donations and served as convenient drop-off locations across the New River Valley, while residents came out to locations in Christiansburg, Radford and Floyd to place their donated items at local bus drives. Volunteers were instrumental in helping collect and sort supplies for distribution.
Local non-profits Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program (MCEAP), Floyd County Emergency Assistance Program (FCEAP) and Radford Clothing Bank distributed school supplies to local children. FCEAP Community Service Worker, Katie Bennett, helped distribute supplies and saw the benefit to families firsthand. “It was very rewarding to play a hand in helping local children with school supplies. When I talked with each struggling family, the thought of purchasing school supplies seemed overwhelming to them. Working together as a community we provided a backpack of supplies to children and excitement about going to school!”
On behalf of the families and children served, United Way would like to express sincere appreciation to each donor, volunteer and partner charity that played a hand in the success of this year’s Stuff the Bus school supply drive. For additional information or to find out how you can help next year, please contact the United Way of Montgomery, Radford and Floyd’s office at (540) 381-2066 or by email at info@unitedwaynrv.org.