Camas, Washougal students ready to roll with Stuff the Bus donation drive

The keen rivalry between Camas and Washougal high schools will again be exploited to help spread holiday cheer, with a new twist this year.

Students, businesses and the public are encouraged to “Stuff the Bus” — actually, two big, yellow rigs, one parked at each campus Dec. 5.

Student leadership groups at the two schools will accept nonperishable food, unopened toys and cash or check donations. Each hopes to pack their bus full.

The donation drive runs from noon to 6 p.m., after which time the buses will be weighed to determine a “winner.”

Of course, the real winners will be households served by Washougal’s East County Family Resource Center and the longtime C.A.R.O.L. program run by Camas Fire Department employees.

The two groups will distribute all goods stashed in their respective city’s bus. Cash will go to purchase even more food, officials say.

Stuff the Bus was hatched by the recently founded Camas-Washougal Business Alliance, Portland radio station Z100 (KKRZ-FM) and student leaders, teamed with the charities.

“It’s gonna be big. It’s pretty amazing what the kids are doing,” said Erinn Auclair, local program manager for the Children’s Home Society of Washington, which operates a food pantry at the Washougal center.

In a typical month, Auclair’s group might make 130 emergency food bank distributions, she said.

Already, the group has given out 150 shares this month alone. Most families it serves have children younger than 5, she said.

C.A.R.O.L. hopes to top last year’s count of 79 families who received food boxes and toys, said Alicia Ramsey, fire department administrator.

Business alliance member Neil Jackson, a private loan director, said it’s clear this year that charity needs were “way up, and donations were way down.” Former donors had turned up on help lists this year, he said.

The alliance hopes the new Papermaker-Panther showdown will boost community support.

“The kids have been really awesome. This is a big deal,” Jackson said.