First Colfax ‘Stuff the Bus’ will help students start school year

A big yellow school bus was parked in the Colfax Rosauers parking lot accepting donations for school supplies for low income children for three days last week.

“We didn’t count our supplies, but that bus was full,” said Whitney Aguilar, an organizer of the Stuff the Bus campaign.

Colfax Supt. Michael Morgan said this year’s in-kind donations topped previous results from similar drives. The is the first year Colfax has participated under the Stuff the Bus format, Aguilar said.

“We’re not done yet,” Aguilar said. “An additional 125 sets have been packed and will be given to Colfax from Pullman Kiwanis to mark the first year.”

Notebooks, rulers, pencils, crayons, erasers and a variety of other school supplies stuffed the bags in the bus as shoppers contributed school supplies.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons last week, volunteers manned a spot in the Rosauers parking lot to accept donations for Stuff the Bus.

Cash donations for the drive this year totaled $768 with additional donations still being accepted, Aguilar said.

Stuff the Bus is a collaborative effort of the Kiwanis Clubs of Pullman and Moscow and a number of other supporting organizations to benefit students in participating school districts of Pullman, Moscow, Colton-Uniontown and Colfax.

“It costs about $25 per child to fill up a backpack,” Aguilar said. “There are 325 students at Jennings Elementary School alone and if one-third of them are on the free and reduced lunch program, we can assume we need at least 100 sets to meet that need.”

Kiwanis clubs of Pullman and Moscow, with Pullman Child Welfare and the Pullman, Colfax, Colton and Moscow school districts, are spearheading the fifth annual drive.

Colfax Rotary club, represented by Gail Webster, donated $250 for next year to prime the 2014 effort before the start of school.

“We need businesses and individuals in Colfax to step up financially next year to meet the need in our town,” Aguilar said.