Photo by Samantha Davis United Way program coordinator Tanya Moat (right) and CEO Meg Louwagie (middle) help pack up donated school supplies Wednesday afternoon during the Stuff the Bus campaign, which is providing school supplies to 4,000 students across 23 schools this year.

MARSHALL — After another summer school supplies donation drive, the United Way of Southwest Minnesota’s Stuff the Bus campaign delivered 48,000 items to nearly 4,000 students across 23 area schools this year.

The campaign collects new school supplies through community donations that goes directly back to local students as they prepare for a new school year.

“It went really well. We got a great community outpouring of donations, which was amazing to see,” United Way CEO Meg Louwagie said. “Twenty-three schools (are) getting supplies today, and they range from pre-K to 12.”

Rows of organized school supplies filled the Merit Center garages Wednesday afternoon in Marshall, welcoming schools to drive in as volunteers quickly put boxes of donations into each vehicle for an easy process.

United Way also purchases supplies for Stuff the Bus with monetary donations and grants from the community and local businesses.

Throughout the month of July, United Way had around 40 drop-off sites for people to bring their school supply donations, which was picked up by the organization to be sorted prior to distribution day.

Although the initiative has been going on for several years, United Way started a new process last year that allows the organization to customize what supplies are more in need.

“This is the second year we’ve used an application process where they (schools) can tell us what they need more of or less of, so we can customize per school,” Louwagie said. “That really works well for us, so that we can be more fiscally responsible in giving the schools what they actually want and need, versus just a blanket amount … Instead of, ‘Here’s what you get,’ it’s, “Here is what you need.’ ”

With the new application process from schools to specify their needs, it also allows United Way to track where the demand is for supplies and what the focus should be.

“The supplies have changed over the years, especially since COVID. We’re obviously seeing less requests for hand sanitizer and those kinds of supplies from the schools,” Louwagie said. “We also did see a little bit of a decrease (this year) on some of the schools wanting pencils and pens, as we kind of move more to that technology (era) in the school.”

Each of the 23 schools receiving donations had boxes piled up waiting for pickup, including Marshall, Murray County Central, Yellow Medicine East, Lynd, Lakeview, Tracy and more around the area.

The schools then determine how they want to distribute the donations and supplies after pick up.

All of the collecting, sorting and distributing however was done with the help of several community volunteers.

“We actually had more volunteers than we asked for, which is always great,” Louwagie said. “Right now, it’s our biggest volunteer opportunity of the year.”

Some groups that helped with the process were Western Equipment Finance, Reilly Home Team Keller Williams, Leading Edge Credit Union, Schwan’s and Archer Daniels Midland and several other individual volunteers that assisted with distribution and counting.

“It’s a huge, wonderful thing that happens here,” Louwagie said.

United Way will also be participating in this year’s Read for the Record campaign this fall, where thousands of students across the country will share the same story on a particular day.

“We will be bringing back Read for the Record in October, where volunteers go into schools and read the same book on the same day nationwide,” Louwagie said. “That’s going to be a fun activity.”

United Way serves over 20 public, private and charter schools across the southwest Minnesota region, and serves eight different counties. The organization focuses on providing resources that help prosper community youth, wellness and financial stability.