Back to School drives to aid Nye County students

In less than three weeks, Nye County students are set to head back to their classrooms for another year of learning and one of the most important parts of readying for the school year is rounding up all the supplies necessary to take on the looming academic challenges.

For some families, buying all those supplies can prove a challenge in and of itself. That is exactly why several well-known local entities host school supply drives each year, to help ensure no student goes back to school unprepared.

Sheriff, PDOP and Positive Pahrump drive

The first of the two upcoming back to school supply drives will be hosted by the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the Pahrump Disability Outreach Program and Positive Pahrump.

The supply collection portion of this event is set to take place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 27 at three separate locations throughout Nye County, including at the Walmart on Highway 160 in Pahrump, the Family Dollar on Second Street in Beatty and the Family Dollar on Main Street in Tonopah.

Following the supply drive itself, families who could use a little assistance in preparing their students can then head over to the three locations and pick up some of the supplies that were gathered. Supplies will be given out from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. to parents with children who will be attending the 2019-2020 school year, on a first-come-first-served basis.

Anyone willing to lend a hand to children in need can swing by and drop off or purchase a few items for the supply drive. From paper to pencils to backpacks and everything in between, all of the items collected that day will make their way directly into the hands of area students.

VEA Fill the Bucket Supply Drive

The second upcoming event geared toward readying students will be the 13th Annual Fill the Bucket School Supply Drive hosted by Valley Electric Association, which is set for Saturday, Aug. 3 in Pahrump.

From 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. that Saturday, VEA staffers, ambassadors and volunteers will be manning booths at the local Smith’s, Walmart and Albertsons stores where residents are encouraged to head over to take part in the effort to break the cooperative’s record for amount of school supplies gathered. They can do so by shopping for some supplies to donate themselves or for those who are short on time, they can simply drop off cash donations that will then be used to purchase supplies. There is also a bin inside the VEA lobby in Pahrump where donations can be dropped off through August 2.

The buckets used to measure the amount of goods gathered at this yearly event come from a commonly-used piece of utility equipment, a bucket truck. The Fill the Bucket event record was set in 2018 with an incredible 49 buckets filled with all sorts of school supplies.

The goal for this year will be to once again surpass that record, all for the educational benefit of thousands of students. All of the supplies collected will be sorted and then distributed directly to schools within VEA’s service territory, which reaches from Sandy Valley to Fish Lake Valley and includes a large portion of Nye County as well as parts of Clark and Esmeralda counties.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com