Being Stuffed Never Felt So Good

On the morning when Stuff with Bus with Sandy donations finally dawned, a girl at Harrison Elementary School called a local radio station, sending news of Stuff the Bus over the airwaves. Kindergarten classes spilled out to cheer. And the principal of Collins Elementary School sat down to write a rap song about the massive relief effort.

We have donations,
And that’s just dandy,
Many homes were hurt,
By “Super Storm Sandy.”

Yo! Livingston. With not one, but two yellow school buses heading to South Jersey, being stuffed never felt so good.

John Leister, the Collins principal and rapper, reminded students that it was not about making themselves feel good, but to help others, something they need to do everyday in big and small ways.

Let’s think of others,
Who need this food,
They won’t be hungry,
We’ll help their mood.

By the time the bus pulled up at Mt. Pleasant Elementary School, students spilled out onto the sidewalk to cheer the volunteers struggling to make room in the bus loaded with cereal boxes, diapers, toothpaste, soap, canned goods and cleaning supplies all headed to areas still reeling from Hurricane Sandy in Ventnor and Atlantic City. Some of the donations will remain in Livingston to replenish shelves at Livingston C.H.O.W. (Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse), which serves local families in need and has also been helping a Newark shelter that has taken in families displaced by the storm.

Our bags and boxes,
Will stuff the bus,
Let’s make some noise now,
And make a fuss!

Volunteers from the township’s Food Day Committee, with support from Livingston Public School, and an outpouring of help from every corner, nearly every group in town. They headed South on Saturday, where “The story of our delivery and the receipt of all of the merchandise is bigger than the collection,” said volunteer Alan Karpas.

A story so big, the NBC affiliate in South Jersey picked it up, airing video of the assembly line of volunteers unpacking the stuffed buses.  “It was very nice to know we are still loved Marisol Taeia, one of the many people who is still suffering in Ventnor. She says the donations will help her get back on her feet. “It's great because we didn't know what to do. We didn't know where to get help." (Click here to see the story).

See more photos from Stuff the Bus on the Livingston Public School's Web site by clicking here.