Community participates in MSU donation drive

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Students, professors and staff members are joining together to provide back-to-school supplies to those in need.

For the second year in a row, the Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement at MSU organized Fill the Bus, a service project that collects donations of food, school supplies, personal care and first aid items that will be distributed throughout Greater Lansing. Fill the Bus began Sunday, and collection will wrap up Thursday, with donation boxes from some residence halls being picked up Wednesday.

Although last year the project was directed toward freshmen to encourage involvement in the community, this year Fill the Bus has been expanded to reach all students and staff members, said Kevin Schwemmin, senior student services coordinator.

Rather than providing actual buses to for students to bring supplies to, donation boxes were stationed across campus and in the residence halls. School buses will collect and sort donations on Friday, he said.

Last spring, a team from an Engineering 410: System Methodology class planned many of the changes to Fill the Bus in an effort to reduce waste and increase community involvement and overall success of the project, said Kevin Bowen, an applied engineering sciences senior and team member who volunteered this year to help with the event.

“I have a vested interest in Fill the Bus and I’m also pretty adamant about volunteering,” Bowen said. “It definitely gives you a sense of ownership and community.”

Fill the Bus will donate items to 11 different community partners serving East Lansing and Greater Lansing, including The Black Child and Family Institute, or BCFI, the MSU Family Resource Center, or FRC, and the MSU Student Food Bank.

Both the BCFI and the FRC specialize in serving local families in need of support. The FRC focuses on assisting MSU students with families.

“Many MSU students struggle to cover their own tuition, books and costs of education,” said Lori Strom, MSU Family Resource Center coordinator. “When they have to support a young child going to school as well it creates an even greater financial burden.”

Donations ultimately will reach further than MSU students who utilize the Resource Center, Strom said.
“MSU students’ kids represent many areas,” Strom said. “This project will help students not only from MSU but from the entire area.”

Last year, the FRC used donations from Fill the Bus to provide more than 20 students with backpacks filled with paper, folders and other school supplies. The BCFI donated more than 200 backpacks, about 75 to 100 of which were filled with supplies donated by MSU.

“The need is there,” BCFI Program Director Jennifer McCoy said. “This will have a tremendous impact. You can’t put a price on a child’s face when they receive a backpack that’s their own. ”

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