MCOE and United Way Monterey County host Stuff the Bus Event

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV)- School is still out for summer but for local volunteers it was an opportunity to help out students in need in Monterey County.

This week, the United Way of Monterey County and Monterey County Office of Education held their "Stuff the Bus" event. Volunteers from other community partners are filling backpacks with school supplies to be distributed for students in need throughout all 24 school districts in Monterey County.

They had 30 volunteers helping out during Wednesday's session and they will get over 100 volunteers helping out throughout the week.

The event has been going on since 2010.

Jessica Macias who works for Valley Health Plan said that the company has volunteered at the event for two years and that it is important to give back to the community.

"Yeah its so great, it is a great team building experience with 10 of my colleagues and really just working together knowing that what we are doing to take time and putting together these backpacks knowing we are impacting lives," Macias said.

In 2022, the United Way Monterey County reported that there were over 10,050 local students living in homeless conditions.

This year, there are more than 11,000 students in Monterey County who experience homelessness. Katy Castagna who is the President and CEO of United Way Monterey County says events like this help students and families get prepared for the school year.

"Students and families have so many other struggles but this is a very simple, very concrete way for our community to wrap around those families that need support," Castagna said.

Castagna said that they are on track to fill 4,500 backpacks that will help students throughout the County. The backpacks are filled with binders, pencils, papers, notebooks and pens.

Dr. Deneen Guss who is the Monterey County Superintendent of Schools said that students having the supplies they need sets them up immediately for success on the first day of school.

"What we want for our young people is that they can start school with everything they need so they have the confidence needed to just thrive in school," Guss said. "We want to make sure that every student has the basic school supplies they need to have success on day one when they start the school year."

Volunteers will be stuffing backpacks with school supplies until Friday. Monterey County School Districts have been picking up school supplies throughout the week to distribute to students.

For more information on how you can help out, visit here.