Junior Auxiliary of Starkville launched its “Stuff the Bus” campaign to generate donations of school supplies to benefit the children of Oktibbeha County.
With the start of fall semester for area schools just two weeks away, Junior Auxiliary members began collecting supplies and set collection points across the community for supply donations to be accepted through Friday. A collection event will be held from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday at Chick-fil-A Starkville.
“Stuff the Bus is our chapter-wide event to kick off each school year. It takes all of our members working together to raise awareness and generate donations for needed supplies for our local public schools in Starkville and Oktibbeha County, but also to deliver the supplies to the schools,” said Karlee Prosser, JA public relations chair.
Businesses where donations are being accepted include Mitchell Eye Care, Ford Vision Clinic. Merle Norman/Luna Bella, The Flower Company, George-Mary’s, LA Green, Occasions, Orange Theory Fitness, HotWorx, The Book Mart, Modern Woodmen, Greater Starkville Development Partnership and B-Unlimited.
At the Saturday collection event, JA volunteers will set up a tailgate tent in the parking lot near the drive-thru entrance at Chick-fil-A Starkville to accept donations. Each person donating supplies will receive a digital coupon card for a free Chick-fil-A food item. Collection stations will also be set up at Kroger and Walmart that day, Prosser said.
The support from the business community is critical to the success of the “Stuff the Bus” project, said Erin Smith, JA “Stuff the Bus” project chair.
“This is such a great project to give back to our teachers and children in the community. The supplies that are donated are used in the classroom by both students and teachers throughout the year,” Smith said. “No child’s learning should be limited because they don’t have access to school supplies, and these donations fill needs that better equip all students for success.”
Supplies needed for the drive are paper towels, baby wipes, facial tissue, umbo and regular pencils, crayons (24-count pack preferred), glue sticks, bottles of glue (8-oz.), construction paper, white copy paper, zipper bags (quart and gallon), erasers (bar or cap), markers (10-count pack preferred), tri-fold Kindermat (plastic), tablets (broken lines/white paper writing tablet), No. 2 plain yellow pencils, safety scissors (blunt and 5-inch pointed scissors), loose wide-ruled notebook paper, two-hole pencil sharpeners, wide-ruled composition books/one-subject notebooks, folders with pocket and prong, zipper pouch or box and masks/face coverings.
For information, visit the Junior Auxiliary website at jastarkville.com or visit Chick-fil-A’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/CFAStarkville.
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