15th Annual Stuff the Bus Results

Hernando Residents Successfully “Stuff the Bus”

Community Comes Together to Fill Hernando Classroom Needs Ahead of New School Year

 

Spring Hill, FL – (August 2, 2021) – After hosting last year’s Stuff the Bus completely online through Roonga with no in person volunteering due to COVID-19, United Way of Hernando County’s 15th Annual Stuff the Bus event was successfully held in person this summer on Friday, July 16th, Saturday, July 17th, and Sunday, July 18th at all 8 Hernando County Publix stores.

Store coordinators and teachers alike were thrilled to once again participate in person, collecting supplies and advocating for local Hernando classrooms outside Publix. To continue protecting the health and safety of the community, scannable QR codes were implemented instead of flyers, to give shoppers an easy and socially distanced way to access a list of most requested supply items on their phones.

Over the course of the Stuff the Bus weekend, 97 teachers from 21 Hernando Schools volunteered their time and collected over 6,359 lbs. of school supplies, including 1,186 boxes of crayons, 989 highlighters, and 1,304 packs of loose leaf paper, and so much more. Altogether, volunteers logged 450 hours between collecting donations at Publix, and unloading, sorting, counting, and dividing up the items at The Lake House the following week. Along with the collected donations, community members could also donate items online through Roonga.com. Additionally, the community collectively raised $8,817.59 in monetary donations to purchase additional special request items for the dedicated teacher volunteers and their classrooms.

Thank you to United Way’s Partners in Education: Publix Super Markets for continuing to support the needs of local classrooms; to HCA Oak Hill Hospital for sponsoring t-shirts for all volunteers; Hernando County Transportation for coordinating the pickup and drop off of the school buses to the stores; Hernando County Parks and Recreation for lending United Way the space at The Lake House for unloading, sorting, and counting the supplies; Roonga for partnering for the virtual component of the supply drive; and to all Hernando County School Board teachers, United Way Partner Agencies, community partners, and Hernando County residents for continuing to LIVE UNITED and supporting Hernando’s 15th Annual Stuff the Bus.