Community stuffs bus full of school supplies

By STACY MILLBERG - Staff Writer - smillberg@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

August 24, 2008 05:13 am

— ANDOVER — Area children will have a few more school supplies come Monday after community members helped the Andover Village Police Department Auxiliary stuff a bus with supplies.
This is the first year for the event, but coordinators plan to make it a yearly event, said James Dewey with the police department auxiliary. Dewey said the group got the idea after seeing a similar event on television.
“It was sort of a last minute thing,” he said. “It’s only been two weeks since it was thought of and here we are.”
Dewey said the event attracted an overwhelming response from the community. The auxiliary set up shop at 10 a.m. and by noon it had already received a substantial amount of supplies and cash donations, he said.
“The community has been outstanding,” he said. “They’ve really been behind this. With the economy the way it is, school supplies are so expensive. We just wanted to help.”
Dewey said the goal of the event was to fill one, if not several buses with supplies. The supplies will then be donated to the area schools and the schools will distribute them as needed, he said.