An Itty Bitty Babbitt Pantry and the Babbitt Ambulance Department have joined forces to bring a “Fill the Bus” school supplies drive to Babbitt.
Organizers have been accepting school supply donations in bins at the Babbitt branch of the Ely Area Credit Union and at Fish Tales Tavern.
Donations will be accepted until the Northeast Range School Open House on September 1, when students can take necessary materials at no cost to their families.
Fill the Bus organizers scheduled an appearance at the Babbitt Farmers Market on Thursday, August 13, with food, activities, games and prizes, music and more to accompany the event.
Cribbage and cornhole tournament sign-ups cost participants a contribution of one school supply, and community members could leave other donations in a school bus loaned by Northeast Range.
Babbitt EMS, Fire and Police Departments also coordinated to make an appearance at the event in replacement of a citywide National Night Out.
“People can come and meet some firefighters and get that experience since we didn’t have that opportunity this year,” said organizer and assistant ambulance director Rebekah Littler.
Littler drew inspiration for the event from her daughter, whose work in Denver, Colorado, has involved housing and food security. Denver hosts free markets where community members can leave donated items and take what they need.
“She told me about this, and I hadn’t really heard of anything like that before,” Littler said. “I thought it was such an excellent idea and especially for a smaller community like Babbitt, where we have a relatively close-knit group of people and everybody generally wants to help each other.”
Littler implemented the idea last December at Babbitt’s Really Free Christmas Market, which featured a hot chocolate bar, a Christmas- themed performance by the Northeast Range band, shopping, gift wrapping and more.
The Christmas market was preceded by a “Stuff the Ambulance” event on December 6, hosted by the Babbitt Ambulance and Fire Departments and An Itty Bitty Babbitt Pantry.
“I just started talking to the other people who had participated in the Really Free Christmas Market, and they said, yeah, getting a school supply drive would be fantastic,” Littler said.
“I just put out on Facebook that this is something I wanted to do, and I was very blessed that a really excellent group of people hopped in right away and said, yeah, we want to help plan this,” Littler said.
The organizing team had already received many donations in advance of Thursday’s Stuff the Bus appearance at the Farmers Market.
“I’m blown away by how many people within the community are willing to step up,” Littler said.
Littler and others hope to run the Christmas market again this year due to its success in 2025. Fill the Bus may also debut annually in Babbitt.
