'Stuffing the Bucket' With School Supplies

On Friday, Dominion Virginia Power employees throughout the state helped “” with school supplies.

A team from Dominion Virginia Power volunteered to collect school supplies (and donations) at the .  They arrived before 9 a.m. and were on hand until 6 p.m.

The team from Dominion Virginia Power brought their big bucket truck and extended the bucket high in the air to get attention. But the shoppers at KMart were already feeling generous. The hard hats on the table were getting filled up with cash donations. Many people purchased a few things inside - crayons, notebooks and backpacks – and brought the items to the volunteers.

The tax-free holiday weekend began on Friday and many people were taking advantage of the savings to do their own back-to-school shopping. Adding a few extra things to the cart for those less fortunate was painless.

“When we prepare our kids for school, we buy clothes and shoes and school supplies. They’ll start the year feeling good, feeling confident.  We hope to be able to help many less fortunate students start school the same way, with the same confidence,” said Le-Ha Anderson, media relations manager with Dominion Virginia Power.

Anderson said that Dominion Virginia Power will be working with Reston Interfaith (a Dominion Virgiia Power Energy Share agency) for the distribution of the collected items to underprivileged children throughout Northern Virginia.

The monetary donations will help provide the three things that Reston Interfaith have called “critical” for a good start to the year: new shoes, hair cuts and new underwear. Anderson also said that the Dominion Virginia Power will be collecting cash donations from employees throughout their offices to provide gift cards for hair cuts and shoes.

Matt Hill, manager of the Chantilly KMart, provided water and candies for the Dominion Virginia Power volunteers to pass out. He also arranged the school supplies near the checkout for convenient purchases.

“Any time we can reach out to the community and help people who are needy, we are happy to help,” said Hill.  “Our partnership with Dominion Virginia Power is a good thing.”

“KMart, and Matt, have been extremely accommodating,“ said Anderson.

This is the second year of community outreach for Dominion Virginia Power and the second year they’ve partnered with KMart.  

Other Dominion Virginia Power collection locations are the Kmart Stores in Herndon, Dale City, Fairfax, Fredericksburg and Springfield.