Results are in; records broken for Fill the Bus

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — Supplies will support teachers, and money donations will go to good causes.

On Aug. 31, the annual school supply drive Fill the Bus is wrapping up and the results are in.

The numbers are tallied, more than 18,000 supplies have been collected, totaling more than $26,000 in value.

Supplies collected for Bossier Schools went into their supply closets for teachers to choose from. Teachers from Caddo Schools, who volunteered for the initiative, will be taking the supplies collected from their shifts to put directly in their classrooms.

United Way is celebrating the broken records.

“We are breaking records. Um, we exceeded our goal and we exceeded the number of supplies we collected last year as well. We just really want to say thank you and we look forward to doing it again next year, even bigger going forward,” said Raavin Evans, of United Way. “We just really hope that, um, the tools to success that we were able to collect for students, that it really does have an impact on their school year.”

The monetary donations resulted in $2,151 for both school systems.

Bossier Schools will use that money to purchase additional supplies that are requested by teachers. Caddo Schools will be using its donation money to support its McKinney-Vento program, which provides rights and services to youths experiencing homelessness, allowing them to remain in their schools of origin during their homelessness.

“This year, we are so grateful for how the community came out and showed up for our students. Um, this event would not have been the success, um, that it was without that support. And so we just wanna just say a heartfelt thank you to everyone that came out to support,” Evans said. “Whether they purchased supplies from the online registry, or actually came out to Walmart to support”

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