Big School Supply Drive Planned In Bucks County: How You Can Help In Bensalem

An effort to make sure all of Bucks County's school children have the school supplies they need this fall gets underway in early August.

The Stuff the Bus project seeks donations from the community to help in need and at-risk kids prepare to go back to school. You can help in a few ways:

• Donate $35 to provide a backpack full of required supplies
• Organize a drive for new school supplies your neighborhood or workplace
• Donate new school supplies directly at any participating location between August 15 – 16.

Collection sites are located across the county. Click here for a full list.

All supplies will be sorted, inventoried, and packed in backpacks by teams of volunteers on August 24 – 25.

Stuff the Bus hopes to provide 2,000 backpacks stuffed with essential school supplies. Backpacks are distributed to families with the greatest need through every school district in Bucks County, as well as 22 nonprofit agencies and faith-based groups.

According to Stuff the Bus organizers, approximately 16 percent of children in Bucks County struggle to have even their basic needs, like food and shelter, met. For those children, required back to school supplies can be out of reach.

Danielle Bush, Stuff the Bus project director for United Way, said that having the right supplies can impact the way students learn. "Imagine that it's the first day of school and you are already behind. It really impacts how you feel about school and about learning – even how you feel about yourself," she says.

New supplies can actually boost a child's confidence if they are struggling, Bush said. "Believe it or not, just having the right supplies can provide the self-assurance they need to succeed in the classroom and beyond."

The following businesses are sponsoring the school supply drive: Wells Fargo, Sesame Place®, Cummins, PECO, and Bank of America are joining forces with nonprofits United Way of Bucks County, Bucks County Housing Group, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bucks County, Cradles to Crayons, and Quakertown Alive.

Click here for more information.