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What Does it Take to Stuff a Bus?

On Sunday, July 30, 2017, the Church at Stone River showed Decatur exactly what it took to stuff a school bus full of supplies and food for Chestnut Grove Elementary School. And after they stuffed the bus, they celebrated the way any good southern church celebrates—with a cookout.

It took a church reaching out.
It was during a church missions meeting that the idea of supporting their local neighborhood school first surfaced. After Ted Amey, lead pastor at Stone River, contacted the principal at Chestnut Grove to see how they could help, the idea became the July missions project.

And it was a project for sure! Church members received supply lists from Chestnut Grove teachers so they could buy exactly what the students needed. And yes, there were about a million bottles of glue and a billion 3-ring binders, but there were also a whole lot of goodies, too. The generosity of Stone River members provided snacks, water bottles, and fun supplies in addition to the necessities.

It took a bus pulling up.
Skip Bondur owns what he calls a ministry bus in which he travels non-stop for promotions, fundraisers, and events like Stone River’s. “We’re on the road full-time,” he says, “especially when back-to-school is in full swing.” When Skip’s colorful school bus pulled onto the front lawn of Stone River on July 30th, church members knew they had a big job in filling it up.

It took a lot of food.
That afternoon, Ella Ferguson enjoyed charbroiled burgers under budding Crepe Myrtles. Thankfully, the afternoon was cooler than usual, but her can of coke was sweating just as much as the children in the bounce houses. Just across the lawn, the snow cone machine line stretched into the distant shade. When a small boy walked by with a pink cotton candy wand bigger than his head, Ella stopped mid-sentence. “I need to get me one of those.”

Ella has worked with the Decatur Department of Human Resources for 25 years, so she knows firsthand the needs of students in her backyard. Turns out, one of those needs is food.

“We do a lot of food here,” she says. “We Methodists aren’t ever gonna scrimp on the food. Maybe less water than Baptists, but there’s a lot of food going on here.”

It took a neighbor.
There’s a reason for all the food. In fact, 40% of Chestnut Grove students live within the qualifications to receive free or reduced lunches. Seeing the need of their neighborhood school, Stone River decided it was time to help out. “This project is our chance to get connected to Chestnut Grove,” Bruce McLellan says, “because Chestnut Grove is our neighbor.”
Next year, Stone River wants to support Cedar Ridge Middle School just down the street, and that is in addition to their backpack for food program that runs all through the school year every Friday.

So what does it take to stuff a bus? Stone River showed Decatur that it takes a neighborly church, a bus, and whole lot of food. But we’re pretty sure it takes love too. 

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