Every year, Walmart, a local TV station, and a local radio station team up to Stuff The Bus to get school supplies for kids who may not be able to afford them.
And every year when we go get school supplies, each of the kids picks out an extra backpack. Each of them gets double of their school supplies and packs the extra bag with stuff to put in the Stuff The Bus bin. When we checked out of Wally World last week with our supplies, Dude noticed the price tag for 4 sets of school supplies (two for 1st graders and two for 4th graders - so no spendy calculators and stuff) - $200. Yup - $50 average for each kid - and we get the basic stuff - no characters and all that crap on the folders and notebooks.
Seriously, why should it cost so much for school supplies? And especially at Walmart? I won’t even go into the items on the list that I think are totally ridiculous. No wonder there are kids out there who can’t afford school supplies.
Anyway - the kids absolutely love picking out the extra stuff, stuffing the backpacks, and putting them in the Stuff The Bus bin. The smiles on their faces is awesome . . . and I love how it makes them feel - like they’ve done something good for someone in need. They talk about it for a long time after they do it, quite often mentioning how lucky they are that they can afford the supplies.
A couple days later, I was at Target in the school supply section to pick up a couple things. A girl that was maybe 11 or 12 was sobbing in the aisle. Her mother was explaining that she couldn’t get the “extra” stuff on the list - only the stuff she really needed . . . like the pencils and erasers and notebooks and folders . . . no extra copy paper and dry erase markers and tabbed dividers and the like. I felt so bad for the girl. She wasn’t sad that they didn’t have the money - she was afraid that the other kids would make fun of her when she showed up and didn’t have all the stuff on the list.
Please donate school supplies. Pick up an extra package of paper, some extra folders and pencils, or if you can, throw in one of the very expensive calculators that they seem to require these days. School is difficult enough for kids without being ridiculed for something that seems so small to us, but is a huge deal to them.
I have so many things swirling in my head right now- I hope I get them all straight and out! First, there is stuff the bus where I live too- I think it is a great program. I love that you have your kids participate- instead of just picking up stuf and doing it yourself, you are giving them the chance to be part of something larger than themselves. You’re giving them the chance to known what it feels like to help others. Good for you!
Second, school supplies are crazy priced! I don’t get it. We are fortunate that we don’t ask students to bring in supplies yet in my school. We use our budget money to buy crayons, pencils, etc. Sometimes there are things we ask parents to donate such as dry erase markers or binders because those are so expensive and especially dry erase markers get used a lot and therefore we go through a lot. In my first grade class last year, each kid went through 3- 4 marker during the year. So I provided the first 2, but after that I had to ask for donations of markers from parents because I didn’t have any more and didn’t have ay $$ left to spend. It is tough especially when kids compare themselves to others based on supplies, clothes, shoes, or whatever else they can think of it.
Anyway- thanks for doing a wonderful thing and making life a bit better for someone else!
I am soooooo proud of you and the kids!!!!! Love…Mom