Stuff the Bus 2021 Declared a Success!

The start of the school year can be a stressful time for families. Parents often must choose between buying school supplies or putting food on the table. The right school supplies are critical to helping students feel prepared to succeed. To start the academic year off right, PIE holds a Stuff the Bus event to collect school supplies for our in-need students. All supplies collected are distributed to students through their principal & school counselors.

Our volunteers from the schools & our community were on hand sorting & scanning items & honking the horn of the school bus each time a donation was made as a way of showing thanks.

BSH is the title sponsor of Stuff the Bus with 47 business sponsors &16 organizations serving as advance drop-off locations. Several businesses had school supply drives. Items collected in advance were delivered on the day of the event. With live radio remotes & sheriff deputies’ cruisers, we had a fun & high-energy day! Donors received coupons from local businesses as a thank you.

We can’t finish tallying the numbers for the event because we keep getting donations! We are now over $45,000 in school supplies & sponsorships with $33,000 in-kind contributions thru media sponsorship!

Thank you to all of the volunteers, sponsors & of course, all of you who supported this event by making donations & volunteering. Thank you to Staples for letting us park our bus in front of your store!

This event is dedicated to Danny Humphrey, store manager at Staples who passed away in August. Rest easy, Danny, we carried the event to a higher level, and you would be so proud!

As Darlene Brown, PIE executive director says, we have a good story to tell, and we made our corner of the world a little better through Stuff the Bus.

If you would like to donate to Stuff the Bus, year round, we accept school supplies at the Craven County Schools/PIE location, Central Services Office 3600 Trent Rd., New Bern.

Click here for a recommended school supply list.