GREAT FALLS — School is less than a month away, which means it's time for parents to start their back-to-school shopping. However, for many Great Falls families, buying the basics to get their children ready to start school is a struggle. According to United Way of Cascade County, two in five local students live in poverty, and Great Falls Public Schools had more than 500 homeless students.
For the 14th year, the non-profit hosted their annual "Stuff the Bus" event, in which volunteers collected school supplies and living essentials.
This is the eighth year Don Serido has volunteered with the "Stuff the Bus" event. He described what he enjoys most about helping out with this event.
"It's great meeting all the people," Serido said. "The people who drop off stuff. They're just happy to give. They know what you're doing and they they're behind what you're doing. And it's really important to me to be able to help United Way do this."
For Megan Gimenez, she is on her third year helping out with the event. She said she enjoys getting out and helping the community every way possible.
"I enjoy helping the United Way out any way that I can," she said. "Helping our community and giving back. I've done "Stuff the Bus." I've done educational opportunities with the United Way. I just really like giving back to the community.
Supplies collected through community drives and from shoppers that day will be given to local kids through the public schools and area nonprofits like the Great Falls Children’s Receiving Home, Boys & Girls Club and St. Vincent de Paul.
This year’s "Stuff the Bus" will also provide supplies for the Back 2 School Blast on August 18. The Back 2 School Blast will have free food, free haircuts, free backpacks and more from noon to 4 p.m. at the Civic Center. Kids who haven’t pre-registered for backpacks are still able to get one on a first come basis.
United Way of Cascade County is heavily reliant on volunteers. Marketing Coordinator, Kim Skornogoski said "It's my favorite event because we see the generosity of our community. We see our community coming together to give people give their time. They give school supplies, and they give what they can. We also just know that you're making a difference, that you're giving kids that sparkly backpack that they can wear on that first day of school and step into school feeling ready and excited. Just the impact of that is just wonderful."
Now in its 14th year, the "Stuff the Bus" event has grown, reaching more and more students in need. Skornogoski said last year people donated more than 15,000 items.
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