The Salvation Army is calling its "Stuff the Bus!" initiative a success. The group collected more than 2,800 school supply items in Vanderburgh County alone.
At the distribution site Tuesday afternoon, teachers pushed carts past tables covered in school supplies as they filled up boxes for their schools and classrooms.
"Glue, pencils, pens, paper, crayons…anything you can think of you need as a standard supply," says Tracy Haag, a secretary at Harwood High School.
She says she was first in line.
"The school supports all of the supplies for the students and the teachers, so this eliminates a lot of us having to come up with the funding to buy it," Haag says.
The Salvation Army collected the supplies Saturday at Walmart stores in Evansville, Newburgh, and Boonville.
Salvation Army of Evansville Development Coordinator Loren Carter says these supplies should help local middle and high schools throughout the year.
"Many groups are helping at this moment to provide backpacks and supplies as children start school, but that doesn’t help much when it comes to two months, three months, five months down the road," Carter says.
This was the first year that the Salvation Army partnered with Walmart across the country to collect school supplies.
Carter says it made a marvelous difference.
