GREENFIELD — The wheels on this Travel Kuz bus went round and round all through the region, collecting food and clothing for people in need this holiday season.
Travel Kuz, a fifth-generation bus company headquartered on Main Road in Gill, resurrected the Busloads of Blessings holiday event in partnership with the United Way of the Franklin & Hampshire Region and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County. A yellow school bus was decorated with holiday themes to call attention to the event.
Pam Reipold, CEO of Travel Kuz, said her company first organized an event like this eight to 10 years ago.
“It was super successful. We were able to fill a bus,” Reipold recalled previously, adding that it didn’t seem proper to bring back the event during the height of a global pandemic. “Now just seemed like a good time. And there’s a lot of families out there that could use a little help.”
Driver Sue Rosewarne helped organize the collection locations, setting up tables at Food City in Turners Falls, Stop & Shop and Foster’s Supermarket in Greenfield, and Walmart in Orange. Big Y in Greenfield made a monetary donation. Rosewarne put up a list of what was needed at each location, touching base with shoppers at they entered the stores, and collecting goods and cash on their way out. Helping at these locations were members of the National Honor Society from Greenfield High School, Ralph C. Mahar Regional School and Franklin County Technical School.
On Monday morning, the full bus pulled up to the United Way offices in Greenfield. Rosewarne, accompanied by fellow Travel Kuz employees Brittany Earl and Chris Chase, as well as United Way’s Program Manager Jenny Coeur and Executive Director Jeff Naunheim, unloaded the food, clothing, diapers and other essentials from the bus to be organized inside the United Way offices.
Following an inventory of the items, Coeur reported that the drive collected 62 bags of food, 12 boxes of toys, more than 2,600 diapers, and 20 boxes of winter gear and clothing. Additionally, Rosewarne said the roughly $1,900 collected will be used to purchase more coats, snow pants, boots, hats and gloves for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County.
The food and other donated goods will be distributed through the Mary Lyon Foundation, Franklin County Community Meals Program, the Salvation Army of Greenfield, Community Action’s Center for Self-Reliance and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program through Community Action.
“This is amazing,” Naunheim remarked as he carried in another armful of diapers. “When they said they could fill a bus, they filled a bus!”
Reach Paul Franz at pfranz@recorder.com or
413-930-4128.
