Stuff the Bus – Local Business Feature

Greetings! My name is Wanda Parent. I am the Director of a non-profit organization called, Stuff the Bus Maine. We provide low-income, at risk youth primarily in the Southern Maine schools (grades pre-K – 12) with backpacks and school supplies, so they have the tools they need to succeed. I believe all students deserve to feel like they matter, and this sends a direct message to them that their education is important to their future. We also provide more than 100 teachers in the Sanford School system, with free classroom supplies, so they have to take less from their own pockets.

We provide all of the Schools in Sanford, with transitional backpacks, full of supplies, for students whom come to school with nothing. Often students families lose their housing, and are forced to relocate to another town, during the school year. When they arrive in our school district, they typically have nothing. We are different from other programs as we strive not to turn away requests for help, and we focus on quality rather than quantity.

We believe every kid deserves Crayola and Ticonderoga, some programs that do similar things to us, give kids a very low quality backpack. These often do not last the school year and some of these bags are so identifiable that we believe it labels kids, as “the poor kid” and we refuse to do that. Unless the child tells you they received help from Stuff the Bus Maine you would never know. Our program also supplies backpacks filled with necessities, clothing, food, and hygiene items for those in need in our community, including a Christmas backpack project, for residential students of Sweetser.

We are truly a community resource program. Last year our program helped an estimated 5,000 school aged children. This will be the 17th year of Stuff the Bus Maine, school supplies program. We are all volunteer run with no paid staff including myself. Seventeen years ago I volunteered for this new program. The person whom began the program could no-longer continue to run it, so at our kickoff meeting she stepped down, and the program was at risk of ending. Not wanting to see that happen I stepped forward as the new volunteer (unpaid) director and have been passionate about helping kids in need for the last 17 years. We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization, under Strategies for a Stronger Sanford.

If you would like more information about our program please feel free to reach out to me at my email: [email protected], we have a Facebook page called Stuff the Bus Maine, and our website which is frequently updated, is stuffthebus.maine.com If you are interested in making a donation to our efforts, all checks are made payable to: Strategies for a Stronger Sanford, PO Box 958 Sanford, Maine 04073 and in the memo line of the check, it needs to say Stuff the Bus. You can also use my Venmo @WandaParent

Below is a list of items that are always needed for backpacks for Stuff the Bus. Please consider donating today: