LAC to stuff the bus for Golden Harvest

Millbrook Elementary School students Sydney Harby and Sam Schroeder organize donations of canned goods that will be provided to the Leadership Aiken County "Stuff the Bus" project in behalf of Golden Harvest Food Bank. (Submitted photo)

Leadership Aiken County has raised more than $15,000 toward the expansion of a backpack program that is keeping scores of kids from going hungry on school weekends.

Golden Harvest Food Bank started the backpack program two years ago - currently providing shelf-stable packets of food to children in need at J.D. Lever Elementary School in Aiken and Mossy Creek Elementary School in North Augusta. The 2010-11 LAC class seeks to raise $25,000 to add two more elementary schools to the project.

The Leadership members are also gearing up for a "Stuff the Bus to Stop Hunger" festival. They will appear at the USC Aiken Convocation Center on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are asking people to bring canned goods for Golden Harvest and stuff an actual school bus. The LAC members are participating in conjunction with a Life Expo that the Convocation Center manager, Global Spectrum, is hosting Saturday.

John Travis, an LAC member, said class participants are grateful to the community for the donations thus far. There remains more work to be done, he said.

"Our goal is to raise $25,000 to fund two schools, and we need a good push at the end to hit that target," Travis said.¬ "You can sponsor a child for only $128. What a great way to give back to a child."

Travis' wife Tammy, a Millbrook Elementary School teacher, recently coordinated a canned food drive at the school in support of the "Stuff the Bus" project.

A sponsorship for a child can be paid through an automatic draft of $11 a month. Any monetary gift can be designed to the Leadership Aiken County Backpack Project. Businesses also can sponsor the event at varying levels.

For more information, call Leadership Aiken County at 439-5002 or 641-2856 or call Golden Harvest Food Bank at 648-0752.¬ More information and ways to donate also can be found at the project's official website, www.stuffthebusaiken.webs.com.

Each year Leadership Aiken County invites residents to apply a nearly yearlong series of field trips related to education, government, business and industry and more. Each class is required to provide a community-based project.