Stuff the Bus made its rounds through Barton and Pawnee Counties during the month of August and came to a close last week. “Stuff the Bus has been a part of the fundraising efforts, led by United Way of Central Kansas, for over five years and helps to provide much needed items for their 23 Community Partners in Ellinwood, Great Bend, Hoisington and Larned,” said UWCK Executive Director Julie Bugner-Smith. “UWCK Board member Dianne Call, along with Kay Wilbur volunteer their time to organize this event, and then sort all the items and divide them out for each of the agencies,” she said. “This year was another huge success with more than 4,000 items donated, including school supplies, office supplies, toiletry items, and cleaning supplies.”
There was also more than 1,100 food items donated directly to the Hoisington Food. Cash donations were also collected, and these were dispersed to the agencies in the form of gift cards to Dillons, Town & Country Supermarket, and Wal-Mart to help with items that may be needed later in the year.
“This event helps to lighten some of the financial strain on these amazing non-profit organizations and more of their funds are able to go towards helping those in our communities,” Bugner-Smith said. “Thank you to all those who donated time, money, and items to this event and we will be back again next year to Stuff the Bus.”