Stuff the Bus at Petoskey Walmart on Aug. 9 and 10

PETOSKEY — Help get local students ready for the 2024-25 school year with the Stuff the Bus school supplies drive on Aug. 9 and 10 at the Petoskey Walmart.

The Salvation Army will be accepting donations of school supplies from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Flyers with needed supply items will be handed out at each door by volunteers from community organizations, such as the Emmet County Republican Party and Little Traverse Bay Kiwanis Club.

“When one child has highlighters, sticky notes and colored pencils and another child doesn’t, it makes it more difficult for them to navigate through the curriculum being taught,” said Jenni Hand, a teacher at Pellston Middle School, in a press release.

Stuff the Bus donations are distributed to local schools in Emmet, Charlevoix and Antrim counties. Two school districts are chosen to be the recipients each year on a rotating basis. For example, last year Mackinaw City Public School and Boyne Falls Public School were chosen. Officials said by allowing schools to have the supplies on hand, they are immediately accessible to the children who need them and because they are given confidentially, children do not experience a feeling of shame because their family cannot afford the same items their peers have.

Supplies can also be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday at The Salvation Army’s new Community Center, 2350 Mitchell Park Drive in Petoskey, through Aug. 16.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Stuff the Bus at Petoskey Walmart on Aug. 9 and 10