VEA to host annual Fill the Bucket event Saturday

As children head back to school in a couple of weeks, Valley Electric Association, Inc is hosting an event to ensure students in their service area are prepared for success from Day 1.

The annual Fill the Bucket Truck event is taking place Saturday at Wal-Mart Supercenter, located at 300 S. Highway 160; Smith’s Food and Drug, located at 601 S. Highway 160 and Albertsons, located at 200 S. Highway 160 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., and is aimed at filling school lists for children attending schools in the cooperative’s service area.

From pencils, notebooks, scissors, gluesticks, cash donations and more, volunteers will be stationed a trio of locations along Highway 160, accepting the items to fill up the bucket on one of their service vehicles as many times as possible.

“This Saturday we will be out front of three locations, taking in donations that will go to children throughout our service area which spans five counties,” said Cassandra Selbach, community relations representative for VEA.

As people enter the three locations, they will be given a list of school supplies that they can go into one of the stores to knock items off the list.

For those who do not have the time to shop themselves, cash donations will be taken and a volunteer will go inside and do the shopping.

“We have tons of volunteers made up of our employees and ambassadors, and when we get cash we send them in to go shopping for them,” Selbach said.

To ensure they collect an adequate amount to provide for every child in need in their area, VEA is challenging residents to beat the record number of buckets filled this year.

The record was set back in 2014 when 22 buckets were filled, last year’s event fell just short of the record with 19 buckets filled, making VEA all the more eager to draw as many residents as possible to this year’s drive.

For those who aren’t available to make it down to the Fill the Bucket event on Saturday, VEA is will also accept donation at their office, located at 800 E. Highway 372 on Friday as well.

Selbach explained that VEA is actively involved with various community matters and ones involving kids are top priority for the co-op.

“We deeply care about the community and are committed to the communities we serve,” she said. “We want to ensure every child is equipped and prepared for the school year.”

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.