Beech Tree News Network

Butler County students and their families will get a big helping hand going back to school this year thanks to Stuff the Van, and Stuff the Bus.

Stuff the Van is a cooperative effort of the Morgantown Mission, the Butler County Family Resource Center, and The New Q-101.5 WLBQ. On Friday, July 15th, vans were parked at Family Dollar and Dollar General Market in Morgantown, and shoppers were encouraged to stuff the vans with school supplies for local students. Shopping lists were provided to give shoppers an idea of what to buy to help the cause.

Items needed included the usual items such as pencils and pens, notebook paper, folders, and binders, but there were items on the list not every shopper would have thought to buy. Paper towels are a great need, along with hand sanitizer, and ear buds.

Karla Coles, with the Butler County Family Resource Center, explained that the gathered items aren't just needed when school opens.

"We were still giving supplies to kids during the last week of school last year," said Coles.

Kevin Flener, with the Morgantown Mission, wanted to try and top last years totals with this year's event. Last year 450 local students were helped by Stuff the Van, according to Flener.

For this year a major change helped guarantee that even more supplies would be gathered. Tony Rose, a DJ with WDNS 93.3 FM in Bowling Green, spearheads the Stuff the Bus campaign each year to gather school supplies for local schools. The event has grown over the years until the annual donations are now measured in tons instead of individual items. This year Stuff the Bus pledged to measure any and all donations received by Stuff the Van in Butler County.

On Thursday, July 21st, Gary McKinney and Kevin Flener from the Morgantown Mission, joined Joe Morris and Jeremy Womack from WLBQ to take the Stuff the Van items to Rose's Stuff the Bus. An impressive haul of more than 2,800 items were stuffed into Rose's busses, with the help of WLBQ meteorologist Landon Hampton, the New Q's nighttime DJ, Josh Hampton, and Stuff the Bus volunteers.

The Stuff the Bus campaign will now match every item gathered in Butler County by Stuff the Van, and all those supplies will be returned to Butler County to benefit local students.

Rose was impressed with the amount of supplies gathered in Butler County.

"This will be our biggest match for any outlying county," said Rose. "This just shows how much you can do when people get on the same page and work together."

Overall the Stuff the Bus campaign is having another successful year and looks to be on pace to surpass last year's record amount of supplies.

The supplies will be given to local students at the annual Back to School Bash, on August 2nd at the Morgantown City Park, beginning at 6 p.m. The bash features swimming, food, and fun for kids along with getting their free school supplies.