Stuff the Bus is a bi-district run event that is dedicated to collecting and donating food to community members in need during the holiday season. Camas High School (CHS) associated student body (ASB) students work together with the Camas and Washougal school districts to gather and distribute the food. The food collected goes to two main organizations.
“Camas and Washougal gather food for the Children’s Home Society and the Camas Fire Station to feed our community. Stuff the Bus is a crucial event for the Children’s Home Society because it gathers enough food to support families in need throughout the year, and creates special food baskets for a holiday dinner,” Emily Parker, CHS junior said.
There are many different ways that community members can contribute to this event.
“[Students can] bring in whatever they can that’s not expired food. They can also just donate cash using QR codes. They can also buy the Stuff the Bus shirts. All the proceeds of that go to the Children’s Home Society,” Valerie Parbon, the CHS ASB coordinator said.
Due to many expired foods being donated throughout previous years, CHS ASB students have had to put great emphasis on the importance of donating safe, non-expired, non-perishable foods.
“We take any kind of non-perishable item. Although we have had a few cases of the food being expired we do not accept expired food since the Homes Society is not allowed to accept that food and the food gets thrown out,” Reagan Sheffield, CHS junior and ASB student said.
The ASB students have also put emphasis on how to donate food. This can be done by bringing the nonperishable food into school.
Doing this can give students an opportunity for class rewards. The reward system has changed from previous years.
“The biggest change is the prizes. If you’re in the top five, you get a prize which is either donuts or the big prize where you get to go deliver the food and you get pizza,” Parbon said.
Community members can also bring food to the Camas or Washougal Safeway locations, or donate food to food carolers which is a system of donation that has been expanded this year.
“We have added another spot for food caroling. Food caroling [is when] ASB meets at a school such as Dorothy Fox or Grass Valley and we go around to the houses asking if they have any food to donate,” Sheffield said.
“We’re expecting this year’s fundraising to be the biggest yet,” Parker said.
With the slight updates on ways to donate, the reward system for students donating, as well as the emphasis on donating safe and non-expired foods, CHS ASB students predict to have a successful season of Stuff the Bus.
