Volunteers are helping to sort through thousands of school supplies donated over the weekend from the United Way of Greater St. Joseph’s Stuff the Bus campaign.

23,234 school supplies and nearly $1,800 were donated Friday and Saturday to help give children whose families may not be able to afford it the tools they need for the upcoming school year.

Monday, around 40 volunteers spent time sorting and packing backpacks for those supplies to be distributed.

“We are filling the backpacks to give away at the back to school fair and distribution,” said LeeAnn Hobson with the Salvation Army.

The collected school supplies will be distributed through United Way Partner Agencies and programs to area children who would otherwise start the school year off without the tools they need. The Salvation Army’s Back to School fair on Aug. 13 will be the main point of distribution.

“There are little kids who need to start school with all the supplies that they need and some people their income is already stretched as far as it can go and to add school supplies for two or three children could mean their lights didn’t get paid that month or something,” Hobson said. “It’s very important for those families whose budgets are just stretched as far as it can go.”

This year around 700 children are already signed up for the Back to School Fair Distribution. Hobson said she expect to see around another 200 after registration that will come in.

“It’s a little lower than last year,” Hobson said. “We did over 1,000 last year.”