The “Stuff the Bus” Weekend was a success!

Hundreds of bags of school supplies were donated Aug. 6 – 8 making the Stuff the Bus effort a success. Customers at both Walmarts purchased school supplies and donated them to “stuff the bus.” The city had the Walmart at Harrisonburg Crossing and the county had the Dayton Walmart. The effort was led by the United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, WHSV-TV and Verstandig Broadcasting (WSVA-AM.).

The supplies were donated and the Rockingham Educational Foundation, Inc. is currently organizing the donations at the Teacher Supply Depot for the RCPS. The supplies will first be available to each of the division’s schools through the REFI Council members. The REFI Council will come to the depot to select items for the students in need at their schools. If you have a request for specific students who may need assistance with supplies, discuss this with the REFI Council member for your school.

“This is an exciting time for education, and we want to ensure that our students in RCPS have the supplies they need to learn,” said Janet Wendelken, executive director of the REFI. The items have been taken to the Teacher Supply Depot, which is one of the five core programs for the foundation.

Thanks to Doug Alderfer for supplying the bus at Walmart in Dayton. Thanks to InterChange Company for the boxes to organize the items. Thanks goes to the Turner Ashby High School Future Teachers group who worked at Walmart handing out the school supply lists on Sunday afternoon. REFI appreciates all of the volunteers and people who made contributions.

Thanks go to Dick Harper, Dr. Phil Wishon, Jordan Miller and Ally Rankin, who worked to unload the bus and begin organizing the supplies on Aug. 9. (It reached 97 degrees outside that day.) They are working on behalf of the REFI Board. Additional REFI volunteers are set to help later in the week.

Once the REFI Council members have collected supplies for students-in-need, the depot will be open with a special schedule. It will be open after school five times from Aug. 18 – 26. Items will be divided into sections and a section of new supplies will be offered at each of the opening times.

For information on the Stuff the Bus, contact Janet Wendelken 564-3218.

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