United Way of Central Kansas held its annual Stuff the Bus event last Thursday and it was what UWCK Executive Director Gaila Demel called “another year of great success.”
“In Ellinwood, Great Bend and Hoisington, residents donated-much needed items to the 22 community partners that UWCK supports,” she said. Many of the requested items were school supplies so that agencies such as Salvation Army and Central Kansas Court Appointed Special Advocates can provide backpacks full of the required supplies to the youth they serve.
Other items requested included paper goods, non-perishable food items and personal hygiene products. These items are used by the agencies throughout the year to provide the basic necessities for those in need. Agencies such as Catholic Charities of Southwest Kansas, Family Crisis Center and the Hoisington Community Food Bank pass these supplies on to their clients.
More than 7,000 items were donated this year across Barton County to support these agencies, Demel said. In addition to these items, more than $1,200 was donated and will be disbursed to the agencies in the form of Gift Cards to the businesses that allowed UWCK to take over their parking lots to request donations.
Those businesses include: in Ellinwood, Ellinwood Family Foods and Dollar General; in Great Bend, Dillons and Wal-Mart; and in Hoisington, Town & Country Supermarket and Dollar General.
“UWCK would also like to thank all the volunteers who helped to organize the event this year,” she said. These included: In Ellinwood, Nancy Baird and Becca Maxwell; in Hoisington, Toni Schneweis; and in Great Bend, Dianne Call and Kay Wilbur.
“In addition to these leaders, we would like to thank each volunteer who worked a door and encouraged shoppers to donate and those who helped to unload all the items,” Demel said. “We also appreciate all the businesses who donated items through internal collections and to Farmers Bank & Trust for the use of their Community Room to sort and store all the items.”
There is still time to donate, Demel said.
UWCK will be in Larned, partnering with Pawnee County First Responders on Aug. 10. They will be at Dillons and Dollar General from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. accepting donations.
