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Stuff the Bus, a community-wide initiative, will be distributing new school supplies to students in need at the Hollister Target parking lot at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2.
United for San Benito Executive Director Vicki Fortino said the event is co-sponsored by her organization and the San Benito County Office of Education. It’s been held annually for 14 years.
It’s “a way to help kids start school prepared,” she said. “All of the San Benito County school districts are involved. About 12 members of our organization and 100 volunteers fill the backpacks in the morning.”
The two organizations supply the backpacks to every school that requests them, she said.
“We made a list of the kids who we feel deserve the backpacks,” Fortino said. “We send letters to those families, and the kids will all come to pick out the backpacks.”
The backpacks are intended for students in transitional kindergarten through high school and are filled with age-appropriate items.
“We give kindergartners color crayons, construction paper, and glue sticks, and older students get notebooks, binders, and composition books,” she said. “All the students get pencil packs, erasers and rulers.”
Fortino said that no child is turned away. If a student who is not on the list shows up, the organizers add them to the list, and then they are given a backpack.
The local organization, previously known as United Way of San Benito, has raised more than $170,000 over the years and provided school supply-filled backpacks to more than 20,000 kids.
“We’ve had upwards of 600 kids show up to pick out their backpacks.” Fortino said. “One year we had 1,000 people. It just depends on the need and how well the schools are getting the information out.”
Hot dogs and water bottles will be available for students and their families, donated by Hollister Super.
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