At the end of the day July 14, three-and-a-half school buses were jammed pack with school supplies graciously donated by the community for needy students – and more was left over in storage.

The third annual WBRZ-TV 2 Stuff the Bus with School Supplies campaign was a rousing success thanks to volunteers from Volunteers In Public Schools, including Exxon-Mobil, Aramark, Community Coffee, Dudley Debosier Injury Lawyers, Price LeBlanc Toyota, the Kiwanis Club, students, bus drivers, teachers, principals; WBRZ staff; and the event’s major sponsors, Raising Cane’s and Office Depot.  Students from several schools, including Baton Rouge Magnet High School students (pictured, left to right, Roger Kim, Ryan Lachney, Alyssa Moore, Justin Moore, school district Superintendent John Dilworth, an unidentified person, Germaine Crockett and WBRZ’s Whitney Vann), also got into the act.  Monetary and other donations also came from East Baton Rouge Mayor-President “Kip” Holden and Walgreen’s.

In total, about $54,867 in monetary donations and supplies like pencils, binders, pens, paper towels, backpacks, erasers, scissors and more were donated to students in need who attend East Baton Rouge public schools.  The collection included:  809 binders, 368 color pencils, 1,518 24-packs of Crayons, 496 glue bottles, 404 12-pack pencil boxes, 916 rulers, 162 pencil sharpeners and much, much more.  Last year, almost three buses were filled with school supplies.

“We had people from all over.  It was just a great outpouring of support,” said Rob Wood, volunteer director of Volunteers In Public Schools.  “It is great to have generosity like this from not only the community but also WBRZ, Office Depot and Raising Cane’s.”

School supplies were divvied up at The Dufrocq School the week of July 19 with every school in the district at every level receiving two to three boxes of donated supplies.  During the first week of school, principals will distribute the donated items to students who need them the most but can’t afford them.