Several community groups and volunteer organizations came together to help out the less fortunate.
The second annual “Stuff-A-Bus” event set up Tuesday in front of Emily Brittain Elementary School.
Food donations were being accepted- and stuffed into a school bus- to help the Butler Area School District’s “Kids’ Weekend Backpack Program.” The program sends backpacks filled with non-perishable food items home with students who struggle to find food at home during the weekends when they can’t rely on a school breakfast or lunch.
“It takes about $5,000 per month to supply the food that we need for the roughly 360 kids that we provide this service for,” Meghan Lucas, organizer and Butler teacher, said Tuesday. “I think the public may be surprised at how great the need is for this program, but the teachers aren’t. They are on the front lines and see it everyday.”
Food items that don’t have to be refrigerated and come in single-serve packaging- like applesauce, individual mac-n-cheese cups and granola bars- were accepted at Tuesday’s event. Monetary donations were also be accepted.
“It provides that sense of independence. With these types of foods, they can go home and make it for themselves…because sometimes there isn’t someone there to take care of them,” she said.
Several free kids’ activities also took place during Tuesday’s event- including face painting, tours of Butler City fire trucks and a book swap.
Food donations will be accepted at anytime during the school year at any Butler School District elementary school.
The program is sponsored by the Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation and solely funded through grants and donations.
Personalities from Butler Radio’s WBUT 1050AM took the show on the road Tuesday morning, broadcasting at ‘Stuff A Bus.’ WBUT’s Bob Cupp & Kayla Molczan delivered Butler Radio’s food donation- and was the first food in the bus this year!
