LITTLE ROCK — Large cardboard boxes filled with paper, pencils, glue, crayons and other school supplies line the walls of the basement rooms of the Junior League of Little Rock Building.
The Junior League has been collecting school supplies for its Stuff the Bus project since August and will deliver truckloads of the school essentials Thursday and Friday to five Little Rock elementary schools. The goal of the program is to get the right equipment into the hands of pupils who may not have the necessary supplies to be successful.
The league’s project committee has been meeting every Tuesday to sort supplies by grade and school. Signs with the school names and grades are placed throughout the basement with organized stacks of school supplies underneath. Near the loading dock are pallets of just-delivered boxes of even more supplies that need to be organizedand distributed.
Amy Lasley, co-chairman of the project, said this is the fifth year Stuff the Bus has worked with the Little Rock School District. A new school is added each year and the league now helps Chicot, Watson Intermediate, Stephens, Baseline and Geyer Springs elementary schools.
Lasley, whose own son will begin kindergarten this fall, said she knows how exciting it can be when children get all their new school supplies. For those receiving the donated supplies, she said, “We want them to be equipped with what they need and we want that to be exciting for them as well.”
Lasley, who is an associate director of device marketing with Verizon, says this is her fourth year working with Stuff the Bus program.
“Stuff the Bus is important to me,” she said, “because education is the foundation for not only the future of our students butthe future of our city. Getting our public schools to be the best they can be, having the supplies for the teachers and the students that they need can only help our students and our city succeed.”
She began her first year of volunteering as the supplies coordinator and said the Junior League furnishes about 90 percent of the supplies needed for the 2,400 children involved in the program. The league raises the money through various fundraising events such as their annual Holiday House.
Jennifer Owens, the Stuff the Bus publicity chairman, said the league has also worked with the Little Rock Zoo. They had a supply drive in August and two in May. The zoogave a free child’s zoo admission to each person who donated school supplies. Owens said they distribute the supplies to the schools that have the most need and they work with Volunteers in Public Schools to identify the pupils who need the supplies. She noted that the program is limited to seven schools but hopes to have more participation from the community.
“I believe that education is very important and education starts with elementary school, so if these students don’t go to school with the proper supplies ready to learn, they automatically come out with a deficiency,” Owens said.
“I’m a big proponent of education from elementary school to higher education. Education is near and dear to me so that is why this is such a great project,” said Owens, director of education at RemingtonCollege.
Lasley noted that this year the Junior League is receiving help from Office Depot, which gives them generous discounts on school supplies; Windstream Communications, which is supplying enough backpacks for one school; Fun Wash, which helped buy pencils and pens; Verizon; and Southwest Power Pool. She added that because of the economy it has been a little harder this year to get donations.
Lisa Nichols, the league’s vice president of marketing, said that every year they receive heartfelt letters from pupils who benefit from the program, some addressed to “Dear Miss Junior League.”
More information about Stuff the Bus and the Junior League of Little Rock is available by calling (501) 375-5557 and online at www.jllr.org.
High Profile, Pages 41 on 07/25/2010