Carloads of supplies, including paper towels, clothing, cleaning products and more, rolled in Saturday at the Academy of The Holy Names --ready to be loaded into a shuttle bus.

“We have this fabulous Holy Names bus. I have seen other organizations do it, and I thought ‘Wow, we should do this here at Holy Names,” director of Enrollment Management at Academy of The Holy Names Wendy Diefendorf said.

What You Need To Know

  • Over 10 different organizations collected essential items to fill a bus that would drop them off at Things of My Own

  • Things of My Own is an organization that serves children in crisis situations

  • This is the first year the Academy of The Holy Names has held the pack the bus event

The academy invited the entire community to bring supplies to donate to Things of My Very Own, an organization helping children in crisis situations.

“Just to have the basic necessities that we take for granted would really be helpful to them,” Diefendorf said.

The community responded to the call, bringing in loads and loads of supplies and quickly filling up the shuttle bus.

Not only did the donations roll in, but so did the volunteers.

At least 10 different women-based organizations pitched in to help -- including students from the Women’s Institute at Russell Sage, who spent the first day of their spring break helping bring in supplies.

“We get to help out, sponsor the event, and get to promote it around campus,” Hayden Crandall said. “So it was really great to see the faculty and students come together for a good cause. So we are happy to be here.”

Inside the school, students from the Holy Names wrote cards to send along with the supplies for the children -- offering words of encouragement to those who need it.

“I hope it just brings a smile to their face honestly,” Mary Jordan said. “It’s not anything big to make a card, but everything helps. Small things can really brighten a person’s day.”

For over three hours, students and volunteers served side by side to pack the bus.

“The wonderful part of today is it has brought together a coalition of women’s organizations in the area,” Head of School Mary Anne Vigliante said. Women serving women and children, and I don’t think there could be a better mission.”