A yellow Pekin Public Schools District 108 school bus has been parked in the middle of the Pekin Walmart parking lot this week.
The empty bus is one way the Education Association of Pekin is advertising its week-long "Stuff a Bus" school supplies campaign that's being held at Walmart. The campaign is the first community project the 65-year-old union has undertaken in its history.
The union's 325 members – teachers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, attendance clerks and social workers – work at the K-8 district's 11 schools.
About 3,100 students attend those schools, with 66% of them in a family that lives below the poverty level, according to union officials. That means many families can't afford school supplies.
The average cost of school supplies for District 108 students this school year is $56 for those in elementary school and $76 for those in intermediate and junior high school.
Those numbers led to the union launching the campaign.
"Our members believe money should never be an obstacle to a child's education," said union president Chris Vehlow.
School staff members often pay for school supplies, according to the union's flier for the "Stuff a Bus" campaign, because not having the supplies "can negatively impact student academic performance, self-esteem and overall school experience."
There are multiple ways to contribute to the campaign.
Union members will collect school supplies and monetary donations from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Walmart, 3320 Veterans Drive. The money will be used to purchase school supplies.
Donors also can go inside Walmart, buy school supplies, and place them in donation bins outside the store.
Union members also were at Walmart on Sunday collecting donations. The bins have been inside the store during the week.
No school supplies are in the bus in the parking lot.
"Even though this is a 'Stuff a Bus' campaign, the bus is metaphorical," Vehlow said.
Local churches, other unions and the Pekin Moose Lodge have contributed to the campaign.
Here's what District 108 students need in school supplies, according to union members:
• Pencils
• 24-count box of Crayola crayons
• Colored pencils
• Washable 10-count markers
• Watercolor paints
• Pencil boxes and pencil bags
• Elmer's glue bottles and glue sticks
• Highlighters
• Large pink erasers
• Rulers
• Index cards
• Post-It notes
• Handheld pencil sharpeners with shavings collection tray
• Two-pocket folders (prongs and no progs, solid colors)
• Rounded and pointed tip scissors
• Black/blue and red pens
• Fine-tip black Sharpies
• Dry-erase markers
• 1-, 3- and 5-subject spiral notebooks
• Composition notebooks
• Loose-leaf paper
• 1-inch, 2-inch and 3-ring binders
• Binder tabs
• Headphones or earbuds
• Texas Instruments TI-30XIIS calculator
• Disinfecting wipes
• Kleenex
• Hand sanitizer
• Ziploc quart and gallon bags
• Book bags
• Reusable water bottles
