Backpacks and school supplies needed for annual Stuff the Bus drive

United Way of Lebanon County, Making a Difference of Lebanon, PA, Lebanon Valley Family YMCA and many other area businesses and community organizations are looking for help in collecting schools supplies for local students in need for the annual Stuff the Bus event.

The goal of the annual school supply drive is to ensure that every child who needs them in every school district in Lebanon County has a new backpack and other basic supplies like notebooks, pencils and folders ahead of the new school year.

"There's a lot of kids in need in our community and the future of Lebanon County starts with these kids," said Samuel Light, communications and events manager for United Way. "It's kind of a tough time for some adults in our area, and you don't know how much the need is until you really start looking. I think it's just going to be a great event to get kids what they need for education.

"Simple tools like notebooks, bookbags, things that if you don't have it, it makes it difficult to get excited about learning."

Stuff the Bus has been an annual event for over 15 years, and last year distributed supplies and backpacks to around 700 students in the county. This year their goal is to reach 1,000 students.

Community members can help with the supply drive by:

• Purchasing school supplies while out shopping and dropping them off at the YMCA Train Depot at 250 N. Eighth St. on Saturday, July 13 and 20 between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m.
• Purchasing supplies online and sending them to the United Way of Lebanon County using the Amazon Stuff the Bus wishlist.
• Holding a supply collection at their workplace, church or civic group and dropping them off at the YMCA Train Depot on July 20 between 9 a.m. and noon. Pick-up of collected items can also be arranged by contacting the United Way office at 717-273-8144 on or before Wednesday, July 17.

School supplies needed are backpacks, #2 pencils, pens, notebooks, crayons, folders and colored pencils.

Students will be able to pick up donated supplies at the Back-to-School Festival on Aug. 3 from 9 a.m. until noon at the Lebanon Middle School Stadium on 7th and Church Streets. No pre-registration is required for students to receive donated supplies.

Collected supplies will also be given to Lebanon County school districts for distribution to additional students in need of them.

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on X @djlarlham.

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Backpacks and school supplies needed for annual Stuff the Bus drive