‘Stuff The Bus’ campaign delivers for students in need
Caribbean Alliance volunteers sit in a bus filled with donations: Aleisha Lalor (back), her son Jaylan Samuels and Chanelle Ramoon
(CNS): A three-week-long donation drive has brought in thousands of school supplies for families whose children need assistance. The Caribbean Alliance Insurance and Hurley’s Media “Stuff the Bus” campaign collected 3,738 items that were presented to the Department of Children and Family Services, the Cayman Islands Cancer Society and the Special Needs Foundation to hand out to young people as they begin another school year.
This marked the second year that the annual donation drive was hosted by the insurance provider, with the help of key sponsors Hurley’s Media and Whittaker’s Transportation along with Ogier, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, Lee’s Office Products, CMEC Ltd and the WICK Candle Company, which all coordinated their own internal staff drives to support the initiative. This year, the campaign took in four times the number of donations it received in 2015.
In addition to organised drop-off locations, two massive donation drive events took place where residents were able to purchase items at a partner store and then stuff a big yellow school bus with their donations, which included backpacks, notebooks, crayons, pens and pencils.
“The Cayman Islands community is truly special – the high involvement of people and businesses in our community is what made this year’s campaign stronger,” said Aleisha Lalor, branch manager for Caribbean Alliance.
“It is important for us to support our community in these times and highlight the critical needs present. School supplies can often be overlooked by families that are struggling to make ends meet and we are happy to provide support where we can. This year’s campaign was a huge success and we look forward to building upon it in the years to follow.”
Anyone interested in taking part in next year’s charity drive, can call Caribbean Alliance at 949-9744 for more information
Please post this on a web site next year prior to the event. I am a former teacher & would have brought down a suitcase of supplies if I had known of such a need as I was on island that week. Glad the drive was successful!