School tool buses park in stores

Kids often usher in a new school year by eagerly taking stock of bright-colored folders, tidy boxes of still-nicely-tipped crayons, unblemished pink erasers, full glue bottles, and fistfuls of fresh pencils.

But those back-to-school goodies add up, and for some families, the cost of new school supplies is a great burden. When Kiwanians in Orleans, Ontario, learned that many children lacked even basic school tools, they took action and began partnering with Staples Business Depot in collecting new back-to-school gear for kids.

Now an annual service project several years in the running, the Staples Business Depot School Supply Drive has spread throughout Canada.

“We modestly estimate that the approximately 110 Kiwanis clubs in Canada that got on board early gathered more than CAD$2 million in school supplies for those who were in greatest need,” says Orleans Kiwanian Harley Bloom. “And the road to expansion of this project is only limited by each club’s desire to get involved.”

Participating clubs work with local Staples stores to determine which schools, resource centers, or social service agencies will receive their amassed supplies. Then, the Kiwanians park large, yellow, molded-plastic bus-shaped receptacles bearing their clubs’ names in the stores to collect donated goods and put up signs encouraging patrons to contribute.

Kiwanians are responsible for purchasing the signature yellow buses—created by an Ottawa Kiwanian who owns a plastics company—retrieving the supplies that have been donated, and storing them until a presentation can be made to the school or agency. Kiwanis also supplies a media kit the Staples stores can use in promoting the collection event and reporting its results.

And new discoveries each year lead to more fine-tuning of the supplies drive—and more school tools for kids.

“We found the best success was realized in Staples stores where the management got involved and produced ‘goody bags’ of basic supplies for CAD$5 or $10 and stacked them at the cash registers for easy stimulation of clients checking out,” Harley says.