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"Stuff the Bus” Food Drive to Benefit United Food Bank, Serving Families in Need

Stuff the Bus

Williams Field High School students, staff, and community successfully stuffed a school bus with food to benefit United Food Bank, which helps local families in need. More than 4.5 tons of food was donated, completely filling the school bus. On Friday, Nov. 18th, students from the classes who donated the most food helped to unload the donation at United Food Bank.

The stuffed school bus was officially weighed, documenting a record setting 9,140 lbs. of donated food.

“I like to think of how many families we’re feeding,” said WFHS senior Alex Ghelli. “I’m so glad our school got involved!”

Third period classes enjoyed a healthy competition to donate the most food. Principal Shawn Lynch rallied the students with “peanut butter Friday”, promising donuts to the class that brought in the most peanut butter, which is a highly valued commodity at the food bank. Other promotions included, ‘one man, one can’, encouraging each student to bring at least one item to donate. In a season of tightened budgets, this is a tremendous outpouring of generosity.

Students were creative in collecting food. Some used trick-or-treating as a method to collect food from neighboring homes. Others posted the drive on Facebook. Students and staff spent Saturdays parked in front of Bashas’ grocery stores, where they received great community support.

The project was organized by WFHS career counselor Mary Buscema, who was looking for a way to connect students with community service. Her initial goal was to collect 5,000 pounds of food. The amount collected was nearly double that amount.

“The amount collected blew me away,” Buscema said. “My heart is so full. The students were so unselfish.”

United Food Bank was overwhelmed with the amount of donated food items. Lisa Goin, Chief Development Officer with United Food Bank, said that WFHS’s donations will help serve more than 10,000 meals.

“It’s great to see the school so involved, including the administration,” Goin said. “The pride they had in collecting this food has been so wonderful.”