Tigard elementary students ‘Stuff the Bus’

Templeton, Alberta Rider and Mary Woodward studets gather items to stock the Caring Closet

By Barbara Sherman

The Times, Mar 4, 2010

ADVERTISEMENTS

On the TV show “Extreme Makeover — Home Edition,” the crowd chants “Move that bus!” at the end of each episode so the family of the week can see its spacious new home.

In Tigard last Friday, students at three elementary schools were chanting instead, “Stuff the bus!”

Sure enough, a First Student school bus got stuffed to the roof with boxes and bags and sacks of clothing and toiletries after making pick-ups at Mary Woodward, Alberta Rider and Templeton elementary schools.

The beneficiary of all the bounty was the Caring Closet, which is based in a portable at Tigard High School and is in its 11th year of providing clothing and hygiene products to students in the Tigard-Tualatin School District, as well as household staples such as sheets, towels, laundry detergent and other items.

Families must be pre-qualified by a principal, teacher or counselor at their school and then make appointments to “shop” at the facility that is set up just like a store.

The Closet gives each child a week’s worth of clothing plus toiletry items, a book and household items needed by the family.

During the 2008-09 school year, the Closet served 1,400 kids, which was almost double the number from the year before.

As of last week, it had served 1,000 students so far this school year.

Normally, donations barely come in fast enough to allow the Closet to offer a selection of clothing in different sizes for the families who come through the door, so Jan Kittelson, a longtime volunteer in the school district, proposed the idea for “Stuff the Bus” to Marilyn Hassmann, director of the Caring Closet, three years ago.

Kittelson had been at a Giants-Jets game where a “stuff the bus” campaign was underway, and she learned how it worked.

Hassmann said that it was one of several ideas bounced around by the board, but this year seemed to be the right time to try it.

“It got started at Mary Woodward by Molly Smith, a parent volunteer, and she talked to friends at Alberta Rider and Templeton, so we ended up involving those three schools,” Hassmann said. “We didn’t have time to get the other schools involved, but it will certainly be something to think about in the future.”

The fifth-grade ambassadors at the schools rallied the students and encouraged donations to be brought in starting the first of February – Mary Woodward and Alberta Rider students collected clothing, and Templeton students brought hygiene items from home.

1 | 2 Next Page >>