Stuff the Bus, held Saturday, Aug. 12 at Iola Sentry Foods was a complete success, according to event organizers.
The school supply drive was coordinated by the Iola Lions and Lioness clubs, with Lioness Maggie Jones coordinating the event.
All donations will benefit students in the Iola-Scandinavia School District.
“I was amazed at the amount of community support for the project,” Jones said. “People dropped supplies off at the Sentry store all the preceding week, and on Saturday the supplies just kept coming and coming. We packed up 27 boxes full of supplies. We’re so grateful to have such a generous community.”
With the assistance of Doug and Nathan Kulinski of Iola Sentry Foods and all the people who brought items, the estimated retail value of the donated supplies was more than $4,100.
Added to that was $547 in cash donations, and $374 from Saturday’s Lioness brat fry at Sentry Foods, making a grand total of over $5,000.
I-S District Administrators were overwhelmed by the response.
“By November, many students will have used up a lot of their supplies, and teachers and counselors will be grateful to have all these items to distribute,” elementary school principal and Lioness member Stacey Wester said.
High school principal Sara Anderson commented, “We’re so grateful to the Lions and Lioness Club for their generosity. The cash donations will allow us to purchase any needed school supplies during the year.”
“Sometimes new students come to I-S during the school year, often without school supplies, and it will be wonderful to have this great stock of supplies to choose from,” added Lioness President Jeannine Harbridge, who is an aide at the I-S Elementary School.
Others who assisted chair Maggie Jones on Saturday were Lioness Sherry Neidert, Lioness Ellen Eckardt, and Lion Joe Jones. The I-S School District generously provided the school bus.