On August 20th and 21st, United Way Bucks County collected school supplies for Bucks County kids in need. Two weeks later, we have 742 backpacks filled with materials for students in Lower and Central Bucks, in addition to many cases of extra supplies to be distributed!
These backpacks contain things like pencils, notebooks, binders, and colored pencils. Fourteen of our member agencies distribute the packed bags throughout thirteen Bucks County School districts. Bucks County Intermediate Unit # 22 will also receive supplies.
Donations to this drive help make the transition back to school easier for families struggling to meet their children’s needs. For parents, a backpack of school supplies eases the financial burden of sending their kids back to school. For students, it ensures they have the right materials to be successful in the classroom.
“Education is key to a good quality of life and anything we can do to encourage, support and promote it is a priority,” says Jamie Haddon, United Way of Bucks County CEO. By providing students these supplies, we are making it easier for students to get a quality education here in Bucks County.
Citizen’s Bank was an enormous Stuff the Bus contributor, providing 100 backpacks already filled with supplies. Another fantastic contribution came from Jennifer Dredge who set a personal goal to collect 100 backpacks. She exceeded her goal, and provided over 100 bags to the drive!
A major thank you to our donors at AWeber, Merchants of Doylestown, New Britain Township Business Alliance, Brooks Instruments, J&J Janssen and Lockheed Martin. Without their contributions, this drive would not have been nearly as successful. Many of these donors participated through Bucks Business Stuff the Bus, organized by AWeber. The involvement of community businesses allowed us to exceed last year’s drive, with donations totaling $17,440.
23 volunteers came to the UW Bucks office following our drop off days. They spent hours filling the bags with appropriate supplies for students in different age groups. Thanks to Know It All Intelligence’s donation of almost 4,000 pencils, each backpack contained at least a dozen pencils, as well as all the other supplies kids would need to start the year right.
About the Contributor: Katie Pilot is the Marketing Assistant at UW Bucks. She is a senior at Villanova University with a major in Communications. Due to her passion for social justice, particularly the importance of education, she is excited to help get the word out about UWBucks’ great contributions to the county in hopes to get more people involved.