Stuff the Bus Off to a Great Start

Monday, 18 November 2019 14:48

Photo from last year's Stuff the Bus Campaign

It really is the Friendly City. A remarkable number of food and toy donations were collected by Salvation Army volunteers on Saturday to kick start Heart FM's Stuff the Bus campaign.

WOODSTOCK - The City of Woodstock once again proved why they deserve the moniker of the Friendly City at the Santa Claus parade.

Promotions Director at Heart FM Cody Hayward says he was blown away by how many food and toy donations we received on Saturday.

"This is the first time we partnered with the Salvation Army, I had kind of come with this idea, that we could have all the collections from the Woodstock Santa Claus to go into our bus, to kick off "Stuff the Bus" which runs from December 2nd to the the. The Salvation Army came through, we went down the parade route and when it was all said and done, I think we collected around 3,000 pounds of food that will be donated to the Salvation Army food bank."

Hayward says he couldn't believe how they collected on Saturday.

"It was absolutely fantastic, I cannot thank everyone enough. I was talking to Naomi with the Salvation Army, prior to the parade and she was saying the donations have really been lacking over the last couple of years for the parade. And then, once they started coming in on the bus, I was thinking, this is going to be really something and what a great start for Stuff the Bus."

Stuff a bus is happening the first of December the 2nd to the the with the food donations going to the Salvation Army and all of the toys will be given to Operation Sharing for their Christmas Place. The goal is to help everyone in Woodstock and Oxford County have a great Christmas this year and all of items donated will go to someone in need.

Hayward adds that all of this wouldn't be possible without our sponsors and support from the community.

"I really want to thank our sponsors this year, Scott's No Frills, Leaping Deer Adventure Farm and Kelsey's/Montana's in Woodstock. I also have to give a huge shoutout to Elgie Bus Lines for making all this possible. Every year they supply the bus and the driver and have been a huge help in getting this project off the ground."

We will also be having Santa Claus help us once again this year, as we look to stuff the bus so full, that we will need to get a second bus next year.