United Way hosts 2023 Stuff the Bus school supply drive at Menard Sports Center

WASILLA — United Way Mat-Su hosted the 2023 Stuff the Bus school supply drive at the Menard Sports Center Thursday, Aug. 3 with the help of numerous volunteers and community partners.

"It went really smoothly," United Way Mat-Su development outreach director Michele Harmeling said. "People left with smiles on their faces."

Harmeling said the Stuff the Bus school supply drive is one of their favorite community events and they enjoy having the opportunity to help local families prepare for the upcoming school year.

"It saves people time. It saves people money," Harmeling said. "It's a one stop shop for back to school."

Visiting families were able to pick out a variety of free items ranging from backpacks and binders to markers and colored pencils.

Numerous community partners such as Alaska Family Services, the Mat-Su College, Youth 360, and Knik Tribe participated as event vendors offering various goods and services.

"We just have an impressive number of volunteers and partner agencies. They see it through from start to finish. They're 100 percent committed to seeing it happen every year," Harmeling said.

This year's event even featured onsite immunization shots provided by the Mat-Su Public Health Center and free vision screenings provided by the Alaska Lions Club District 49-A.

"It was just a nice added service for everyone who wanted to get that done before school started. It's definitely a needed service for people," Harmeling said.

Alaska Lions Club District 49A sight and vision screening chairman Esther West said they offered vision screenings to 102 local students during this year's event. She said that each screening is completed in a matter of seconds.

"It gets the kids ready for school," West said. "This will save the nurse a tremendous amount of time."

The Lions offer various other free services to Alaskan students such as hearing screenings and immunizations with help from public health nurses. West that supporting local children is one of their primary goals as an organization.

"It's what we do," West said.

Chad Copelin brought his son Chad Copelin Jr. and daughter Memory Copelin to this year's Stuff the Bus event for free school supplies. He said this annual event is an extremely valuable asset for local families and he appreciates all the work that goes into making it all possible.

"I think it's awesome. I'm glad they're doing such things to help the community. It's amazing," Copelin said. The community needs something like this. It's good for people that are having a tough time right now."

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com