Stuff the School Bus comes to Kimball

With the summertime quickly drawing to a close, parents and children are starting to descend upon local businesses to once again gather supplies for the new school year. However, though many families have the means to successfully budget to acquire the needed supplies, others are less fortunate and could use a helping hand in order to stock their children's backpacks full of the notebooks, pens, and other necessary materials in order to be successful in their efforts in the classroom.

This is where the Stuff the School Bus event comes to their aid.

Stuff the Bus, sponsored by the United Way of Western Nebraska, is an annual event where local residents can give a helping hand to those members of the community struggling to pay for their children's school supplies by donating supplies of their own at local school buses dispersed through Panhandle businesses.

This year Wolf Auto has joined the program in a big way, parking a bus in front of all of their car dealerships in Nebraska to help the cause along with also giving a $10 donation to the United Way of Western Nebraska for every free test drive. Employees at Wolf Automotive in Kimball are excited to help the cause and amazed by the enthusiasm local residents have shown towards it, according to Mike Winstrom.

"We've already had people stop in to donate already so it's kind of a great thing," Winstrom said. "I think for us it's a great idea for the community; a great idea for people who can't afford to get their school supplies taken care of and provide that; and it's a great opportunity for us to meet new people that come in. We're hoping to fill that entire bus."

However, residents who do not wish to donate school supplies can make monetary donations by sending checks to the United Way of Western Nebraska office in Scottsbluff which will be used to continue to buy additional needed supplies throughout the school year for area school districts.