A boost to the bus

It’s all about being a good neighbor – even from 60-plus miles away.

Throw in some social responsibility, and you’ve got hundreds of kids in Steele County prepared for the new school year.

That’s just what happened when Treasure Island Resort & Casino learned about the local United Way’s “Stuff the Bus” school supply drive.

“Their decision-makers had a meeting, and selected United Way of Steele County to receive donations from Treasure Island staff toward the supply drive,” said Neil Lyons, operations coordinator for UWSC.

There was also a check for $1,000 to purchase additional supplies.

“We really value being good neighbors,” said Kristin Edmundson, supervisor of community engagement for TI, “and we really wanted to extend that reach and get a little farther out into the community.

“So we started poking around,” she said, spotted the Stuff the Bus program, “and we instantly were like, we want to be able to help the youth of Steele County to be able to be ready to go back to school, have the supplies they need.”

Using the “wish list” provided for the drive, the group was able to purchase “as much as we could,” Edmundson said.

They stopped in Blooming Prairie and Ellendale on Friday to drop off items at the schools there, swung through Owatonna and were planning to hit Medford on their way out of town.

Instead of relying on staff and volunteers from the United Way and Community Pathways of Steele County to distribute everything, “we wanted to make sure all of the locations feel some love, that Treasure Island’s able to provide some supplies,” Edmundson said.

Community Pathways is partnering with UWSC in the initiative.

In all, 1,400 items were dropped off in Steele County that day, from paints and backpacks to eraser tops and highlighters, she said.

The $1,000 is “so that if there are any gaps when they’re getting ready to distribute” the rest of the supplies after the drive ends Aug. 2, “you can fill those gaps so that everyone has what they need to start school.”

Now in its third year, Stuff the Bus is “one program that is fully community-led,” said Annette Duncan, president of the area United Way, “so what we bring in from the community is what goes into this program.

“This means a lot to our young people who are struggling,” she said. “It’s one of those things that when you go to school and you don’t have the same things that the other people have, that puts you in a different frame of mind that doesn’t make you open to engaging in the rest of your academic activities. So we try to help level the playing field there for our young people and to give them choice – that’s super-important.”

The supplies are not distributed in pre-made kits; instead, using the Community Pathways model, people can come in and take what they need.

Formerly organized by the Children’s Remedial Fund, the drive used to be “strictly for Owatonna, and didn’t have any impact in our neighboring communities,” said Lyons. “So when they approached us a few years ago and asked if we wanted to take it on, we said ‘absolutely,’ but we immediately expanded it to being countywide.”

The supplies will be taken to the social workers at the schools in Blooming Prairie, Ellendale and Medford, Duncan said, “because they are the ones who know which families are struggling, so they can, in the privacy of a one-on-one meeting, take what they need.”

The tentative plan is to deliver the supplies to Blooming Prairie on Aug. 26; to Ellendale on Aug. 25; and to Medford on Aug. 24.

Last year, the drive collected – and distributed – about 12,000 items. Duncan estimated that made a difference for up to 500 kids in Owatonna schools; and anywhere from 40 to 100 students at each of the other districts in the county.

The program includes Owatonna students from St. Mary’s School, the Owatonna Christian School and Choice Technical Academy.

The distribution in Owatonna will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 12 at the Steele County Fairgrounds.