United Way of Southeast Missouri is back with its Stuff the Bus campaign and is asking for the community’s help to stuff the bus with school supplies for area students.

This year's event will be the 10th annual Stuff the Bus, intentionally scheduled during Missouri's tax-free weekend, and will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at participating Walmart stores in Cape Girardeau, Fredericktown, Jackson, Kennett, Malden, Perryville, Poplar Bluff and Sikeston.

Elizabeth Shelton, executive director of United Way of Southeast Missouri, stated in a news release,

“United Way of Southeast Missouri is proud to mark our tenth year for this event. Many students and families depend on our help. Imagine being the only little one in class without crayons or paper. We want to do all we can to help students feel good about attending school.

School districts included in the campaign are Bloomfield, Campbell, Fredericktown, Oak Ridge, Perry County, Portageville, Poplar Bluff, Senath-Hornersville C-9 and Sikeston R-6.

School representatives will be on-site to encourage Walmart shoppers to purchase additional school supplies and place them in the designated donation boxes or shopping carts. Some stores will have buses parked in front to collect supplies.

Athletic groups, student clubs, faculty and staff from participating schools will collect the school supplies donated by community members and periodically transport the supplies to waiting buses. At the end of the event, all donated school supplies will go to participating schools to be delivered to students in need.

“More families than ever need help with school supplies this year. Your donations can help children get their school year started the right way,” the United Way of SEMO website says. “Your participation is critical to ensuring that every student has the necessary supplies to get their school year off to a successful start!”

The top ten items to buy, according to the United Way of SEMO website are:

n Single-subject notebooks

n Mechanical pencils

n Filler paper

n Two pocket folders

n Ink pens

n Crayola 24-count crayons

n Two-pack of pink erasers

n Bottle of school glue

n Scissors

n Three-pack of glue sticks

Those wishing to make a financial donation can visit this link: www.bit.ly/stuff-the-bus-semo24.