St. Paul’s, United Way ‘Stuff the Bus’ in Abbeville

Members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Abbeville teamed with the United Way of Acadiana Saturday in an effort to “Stuff the Bus.”
Battling August heat and eventually some rain, volunteers collected funds and supplies to help go toward the annual school supply drive.
“It went great,” said Alice Boynton, a member of St. Paul’s.
In all, the group raised more than $1,000. Those funds will go towards the purchase of school supplies.
“We are going to keep it local and buy from businesses here,” Boynton said of the purchases.
Boynton said the group collected, but it was those who donated who made the difference.
“It is the people in Abbeville who gave,” Boynton said. “It’s not us. I really want to stress how much we appreciate what people gave. It did not matter how much it ended up being.
“The point is that people gave.”
Passersby donated more cash than school supplies. The group did receive some supplies, though.
“I don’t know how the hospital learned about,” Boynton said of Saturday’s drive. “They have been collecting school supplies, too. They brought four huge boxes of school supplies from Abbeville General.
“That was out of the blue.”
The next step is to see what the schools are going to need.
“We are trying to prioritize what the (Vermilion Parish) school board would like us to get,” Boynton said. “It is pointless for us to buy just anything, when the teachers can tell us what is most needed. One teacher told us, just in passing, that rulers and scissors are always needed. She said they don’t get a lot of those.
“Odd little things like that may help in the long run.”
Saturday’s joint effort with the United Way is not St. Paul’s only path to help local students.
St. Paul’s, as part of its community outreach program, donates 200 backpacks filled with school supplies each year. The church gives the backpacks to the Vermilion Parish School Board. Members of the church brought those backpacks to the school board office last week.
“We think Christianity is not just within the church,” Boynton said. “It is in the whole community. We have to reach out to the community. I think St. Paul’s mission is not only to be a family church, which it is, but also to reach out into the community.
“Whether you attend this church or not is irrelevant. It’s a community effort because we all live here.”
Someone from New Iberia helping Saturday pointed out how much that community comes together.
“She told me only in Abbeville would the police come out to put up a sign to slow traffic down and be a presence,” Boynton said.
Chris Hardy of Abbeville Police Department did set up a sign down the road to alert drivers that volunteers were ahead.
“She wasn’t knocking any other police departments,” Boynton explained. “She just said she loved how in Abbeville, everybody takes a part.”