Back to School 2014: Norcross Cluster Stuffs the Bus with Supplies

School bells were ringing Tuesday morning as thousands of Gwinnett County public school students returned to classes for the 2014-15 school year.

And thanks to a month-long campaign to collect supplies for the Norcross Cluster schools, there will be plenty of pencils, papers and backpacks to share.

Peachtree Corners City Hall was one of 23 drop-off locations for the Stuff-the-Bus school supply drive this year. Items collected included 33,010 pencils, 9,246 crayons, 770 glue sticks and 162 backpacks.

A total of 8,958 items were donated which were gathered, sorted and delivered by volunteers.

Schools which serve Peachtree Corners students that received the donations included Peachtree, Stripling, Simpson and Berkeley Lake elementary schools and Pinckneyville Middle.

The amount of supplies each school received was determined by the total number of students in a school multiplied by the percentage of students receiving free and reduced lunch.

Other schools in the Norcross receiving the donated supplies were Beaver Ridge and Norcross elementary schools and Summerour Middle School.

This is the fourth year of the drive which is co-sponsored by the Norcross Cluster Schools Partnership and the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber.

— From City of Peachtree Corners

Photo: Peachtree Corners Councilmembers Lorri Christopher (left) and Phil Sadd (right) and volunteer Elaine Fuerst helped kick off the 4th annual Stuff-the-Bus school supply campaign.