‘Helping tomorrow’s leaders’: Salvation Army’s ‘Burst-A-Bus’ school supply drive provides much-needed materials for Spokane-area kids

As summer fades into fall and kids begin, often somewhat begrudgingly, to shuffle their way back to school, there are some necessary scholastic items people may take for granted.

Pencils, lunch boxes, highlighters, glue sticks, rulers and backpacks are all things kids need to have a triumphant year in the classroom. Stationed near the entrance of the Fred Meyer on Sprague Avenue out in Spokane Valley, Capt. David Cain and his team from the Salvation Army collected school materials from customers so kids can have exactly what they need for the next academic year.

Cain and his comrades at other Salvation Army tents located at the Wandermere Fred Meyer and the Walmart on Wellesley Avenue raised donations on Friday for more than 4,000 kids in the Spokane area as part of the “Burst-A-Bus” school supply drive.

All collected school supplies will be distributed on Aug. 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis at 223 E. Nora Ave. That event will also include a resource fair with free haircuts, immunizations and other resources available for families. Parents who want to acquire materials for their kids only need to bring photo identification and proof that kids actually live in their home.

“We want to see kids win at school,” Cain said. “We know, because of our work with struggling families, that when a family and a parent is struggling financially, that there’s a trickle-down to those kids. So we don’t want our kids to enter this school year with the weight of feeling like they are less than other kids. Every kid deserves an opportunity to be prepared for the school year and know that they are loved and deserve to be successful.”

With somewhere between 30 to 40 volunteers, including staff driving supplies back and forth, the Salvation Army has worked diligently over the last 16 years of the school supply drive to provide much-needed resources to families across Spokane school districts.

Meanwhile, the scene at the Spokane Valley Fred Meyer was nothing short of lively. Hit music blasted from a large JBL speaker underneath a 105.7 FM radio tent set up right next to the Salvation Army’s tent. About 20 feet or so from both of those tents, Fred Meyer customers clamored to a Boar’s Head hot dog stand. Anyone who donated more than $5 worth of materials got a hot dog and their choice of beverage.

As shoppers milled outside the entrance to Fred Meyer, Karyan Stratton, the Regional Development Manager for the Salvation Army, happily collected backpacks and other materials from generous donors.

“Every little bit helps,” Stratton said. “This is helping tomorrow’s leaders.”

The gas station Nom Nom managed to raise $50,000 to help the Salvation Army’s efforts. Everything that’s raised as part of the “Burst-A-Bus” school supply drive will go to supplement the nearly 4,000 backpacks that the Salvation Army is planning on buying thanks to Nom Nom’s contribution.

Over the last 15 years, Nom Nom has raised well over $500,000 through the campaign and distributed over 53,000 backpacks. Due to price alone, Stratton said the most sought-after items are backpacks, far and away. Everything else on the list that Stratton, Cain and the rest of the Salvation Army crew hand to shoppers making their way inside through the sliding automatic doors is usually only around $2.

Justin Oliver was finishing a hot dog with relish when he said all the proceeds generated from the Boar’s Head hot dog stand, whether it’s cash or school supplies, will go directly back to the Salvation Army.

Oliver is the local purveyor for Boar’s Head and said that Fred Meyer reached out to ask if Boar’s Head would be willing to help two years ago.

“It blew me away two years ago when we did this,” Oliver said. “People would stop, and they’d be like ‘Oh, the Salvation Army, what a good cause, they do so many good things.’ Most of the people that donated had a story of how the Salvation Army impacted them or someone that they knew directly. So that really made me think, ‘Yeah, this is a charity I can get behind.’ ”

Stratton said she joined the Salvation Army so she could feel like she was doing something meaningful with her life. Over the last 100 years, the Salvation Army has served children and families in the Spokane area while being at the forefront of some of the most pressing social issues. Transitional living facilities for families who want to leave a life of homelessness behind, foster shelters for kids experiencing some of the worst days of their lives and campaigns like the “Burst-A-Bus” school supply drive are all ways that the Salvation Army helps members of the community in a pinch.

About 120 families are served every day through the Salvation Army’s food bank. Cain said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, their food pantry has almost doubled in operation. Food pantry use is one of the key indicators the Salvation Army has for determining how much the needs of the community have risen.

Before our future doctors, lawyers, garbagemen, artists, nurses and more can transform into the kind of person they want to be, they first have to get through school. And to get through school, those kids need access to school supplies, Stratton said.

“The Salvation Army’s role is so much more than just shoveling resources towards our community,” Cain said, sweeping his hand across the variety of school supplies sitting on a white plastic folding table. “It is our aim to see lives changed, to give light where there was darkness, to give opportunities and hope where there’s hopelessness. Poverty and some of the challenges that families are experiencing in our community, it can just feel so hopeless. And so this is more than just a backpack or shoveling some supplies in some kiddo’s hands.

“It’s an opportunity to let our community know that they’re not alone, and it’s an opportunity to stand alongside families as they rebuild their lives and work towards sustainability and new answers, and it’s an investment in our kiddos and their future.”