Our Favorite Local Endeavor ‘Stuff the Bus’ Celebrates its Two Decades of Success!
Marking an astounding 20 years of dedicated service to the communities of Bowling Green and South Central Kentucky, the universally loved initiative known as ‘Stuff the Bus’ is taking a moment to celebrate its success.
Who could have imagined that an idea sparked in 2005, envisaging a sleepover in a bus in return for collecting some essential school supplies, would catch fire as it did? A single man’s wild dream has now bloomed into a thriving foundation, touching lives across multiple counties in the region.
Trailblazer and founder of ‘Stuff the Bus’, Tony Rose, takes us on a journey down memory lane, reminiscing, “In my wildest dreams I would have never imagined something like this would be possible. When we started Stuff the Bus… it was just some guy living in a school bus until it got so full of school supplies we couldn’t live in it anymore.”
Yet here we are. Today, twenty years later, this foundation doesn’t just cease operations after summer vacation, but continues as a registered 501c3 non-profit that operates all year round. It keeps classrooms well-stocked, offers grants throughout the year, and even lends a helping hand by feeding families during holiday season.
The focus of the ‘Stuff the Bus’ initiative is promoting equal educational opportunities for all students. The foundation is a testament that charity begins at home, now organizing holiday meals like Thanksgiving dinner and providing scholarships to local high school seniors looking to further their studies.
Warren County Public Schools Superintendent, who has been a keen observer of the foundation’s efforts, in an interview mentioned, “It’s been special to watch, how it’s evolved over the last decade-plus. Now it’s year-round, and Tony doesn’t have to sleep on the bus through the night like he used to.”
The Superintendent also emphasized, “We don’t want our students to feel left out on the first day, or certainly any day. We want to provide this support in such a way that it doesn’t bring any unnecessary anxiety on our students. We know that if we can help them feel comfortable in our schools that we can ensure that they learn at the highest level.”
This enduring initiative boasts countless heartwarming stories from its two-decade journey. But the one that surely makes your heart flutter involves a little girl who donated some thirteen years ago. To everyone’s delight, she recently received one of Stuff the Bus’s annual scholarships.
Reminiscing about the incident, Rose shared, “We had a young lady come out… and she was seven years old. She had done a fundraiser for her birthday. A little tea party, lemonade stand, something like that… [and] it’s like wow, we’ve been doing this for a long time, and it made an impact on somebody’s life much later in life in a different way.”
The joy was two-fold, as ‘Stuff the Bus’ was able to give back to a former young donor who had shown such selfless generosity from an early age.
With two thriving decades behind them, ‘Stuff the Bus’ is turning its gaze to the future. As Rose boldly outlines, “We are much more than just school supplies,we’re much more than just a spectacle that happens every July; our impact reaches schools 12 months a year.”
This heartening initiative continues to benefit local schools and the die-hard spirit of this community. We can’t wait to see what ‘Stuff the Bus’ has in store for its next twenty years!