CSUMB is participating in United Way Monterey County’s Stuff the Bus campaign, a countywide drive to collect school supplies for children whose families are not able to afford them. Donations can be dropped in the bin – shaped like a tiny school bus – located in the Student Center. The third annual campaign gets under way on June 20 and will run through July 30, when the supplies will be stuffed into backpacks and distributed through the Monterey County Office of Education. Monterey County has seen a steady growth in the number of homeless children; in 2011-12, more than 5,100 homeless students where attending school in the county. Add kids in foster care and those from families in need, and the size of the problem becomes apparent. Among the items needed are:

Backpacks (no solid red or blue), 3-ring binders, dividers, binder paper, spiral notebooks, crayons, pencils, pens, rulers, glue sticks, construction paper, pink erasers, yellow highlighters, pocket dictionaries. For more information, please visit the United Way Monterey County