Perry police officers donated a box full of backpacks to the supply drive

Starting Monday and running through the rest of the week, the public is invited to help kids in Perry head back to school by loading up a bus with needed supplies.

The annual Perry Hy-Vee “Pack the Bus” event is back, and Community Involvement Director Larry Vodenik encourages people to bring what they can to help kids obtain materials for the coming school year. To help people out with deciding what to donate, Hy-Vee will give the option of purchasing a bag full of supplies in the store that will be added to the bus. Vodenik says it’s sometimes hard to know exactly what the school will be short on from year to year, so he points out that another option is to donate money directly to the cause.

The bus will be parked in the Hy-Vee parking lot from Monday-Friday, and people can drop off items at any time during the day. The supplies will then be delivered to the Perry School District the following week.