Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette The school bus parked outside of Walmart is being filled with donated school supplies as part of the Stuff the Bus event sponsored by Copper Country Angel Mission and the Salvation Army. The supplies collected this year will go towards approximately 350 students.

HOUGHTON — Two local organizations have joined forces to collect school supplies for families in need. The donations are placed into a school bus parked outside the Houghton Walmart through 5 p.m. today. The drive began yesterday as part of the Stuff the Bus school supplies drive sponsored by the Copper Country Angel Mission (CCAM) and the Salvation Army. The supplies are for students whose families are financially struggling to obtain all needed supplies for the school year. Lists of school supplies were handed out by representatives from the Copper Country Angel Mission and Salvation Army to Walmart shoppers willing to make donations.

CCAM Board member Sherry Middlemis-Brown said the event is new and introduced by the Salvation Army. For the past ten years CCAM has done a backpack program and last year it resulted in more than 200 backpacks filled with supplies sent out to students. According to CCAM Volunteer Lois Jambekar this. year the Stuff the Bus effort is looking to collect school supplies for approximately 350 students.

“Each backpack runs between $80 and $100 and you can imagine with 300 kids or more expected this year, that’s a pretty costly activity,” Middlemis-Brown said. So that’s where the Stuff the Bus comes in to get us more supplies, instead of us having to buy it out of our general fund.”

When shoppers arrive at Walmart and show interest in making donations, the lists they were given had things such as backpacks, notebooks, pens, pencils and more. However there were other items which are needed that are not often thought of, such as water bottles, geometry kits and calculators. Once the shoppers made their Walmart rounds, they brought the supplies back to the bus where they are sorted for distribution.

Families can sign up for the program on the CCAM’s website, www.ccangelmission.org, by filling out an online form or printing and filling out a downloadable pdf form. The registration runs up until Aug. 15. The supplies can then be picked up at the Salvation Army Hancock location on Aug. 23 or the CCAM store in Calumet from Aug. 27-30.

“We do have a number of families that don’t have the money to support getting their kids’ backpack and all the supplies that are requested by the school district, and this has been a long-time problem,” Middlemis-Brown said. “And of course, as schools have less and less funding, they can provide less and less for the students. So we step up, and we hope that people who are asking for backpacks truly do need that help. We don’t ask for any special proof of need or anything like that, just provides a backpack for hopefully just for those who are truly in need.”

Jambekar said 242 students have already signed up for the supplies, and said the supplies which are being collected to donate would not be possible without the community support. During the first hour of the event, Jambekar said she handed out 75 supply sheets to shoppers. “They have a very positive attitude about it and people enjoy it,” she said.

Jambekar added Walmart has been instrumental in assisting the donation event since access to mainstream stores is limited in the area. “We were a long way away from getting the deals that you can get at bigger stores. I mean, we’re limited, but Walmart’s been wonderful to us [and] they’ve been so helpful. They’ve given us grants for three years straight now in order to buy at many school supplies and they’re supporting this whole project this year,” Jambekar said.

Those who are wishing to contribute but are unable to make the Stuff the Bus event can still make monetary donations on CCAM’s website.