Guam's "Fill the Bus" Campaign

It is a beautiful, sunny day in Guam. A momentous day for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to partner with KUAM CareForce’s “Fill the Bus” campaign along with The Salvation Army Guam’s chapter. This event provides needy school children with the school supplies they need to be successful in their education as they start their classes this month.

The day starts early for The Church here at the Barrigada, Guam Stake Chapel as Elder William H. K. Davis, Area Seventy, picks up three strong youth to carry boxes of backpacks and school supplies into the Chapel gym. Not long after, other Church stake leaders come to set up tables, then organize the supplies on them for easy assembly of the backpacks. Fruit, juice, and donuts are brought for breakfast as a treat for all volunteers. It’s not long before the Barrigada Stake youth show up, slipping on Helping Hands vests, a program sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ. After a few instructions for an efficient assembly line, these excited youth are ready to go.

Two lines, one on each side of the tables, work great for assembling each pack. Completed backpacks are stacked at the end of the tables, then our youth head back to assemble more. Eighty-one energetic youth, excited to serve, made this an easy task and finished the two-hundred completed packs in no time.

After a short break of breakfast treats our youth are ready to make a human chain that will transport the packs from the church building out to Elder Davis’ Truck. The packs travel from one youth to another on out to the truck bed in record time. From there, vehicles carrying our cheerful youth follow the truck to Harmon, the location of the KUAM Studios site. On arrival, our Church group migrates on over to the KUAM canopy where the heads of The Salvation Army and the Radio Station owners and their staff are visiting while listening to local Chamorro music with its inviting island beat playing over stereo speakers setting a happy mood. The radio station was wondering how they would ever get all the Salvation Army’s donations onto the bus as they had quite a few boxes that had been donated to the station. Imagine their surprise as our youth made their assembly line again, only this time they passed along the Salvation Army’s boxes to each other and onto the bus.

The youth loaded an entire Turtle Tours bus from Kloppenburg Enterprises, with scores of donated supplies. Among these were diapers, toiletries, and other goods to help neighbors in the community. They even opened the luggage compartments under the bus and filled them as well. Now that the boxes are loaded, it is time for the bus to drive closer to the truck filled with our Church backpacks. Our youth lined up again with their Helping Hands assembly line to pass the packs to one another then into an empty spot left on the bus. What great teamwork! After it was all loaded, everyone enjoyed a moment of music and socializing before heading home. Three youth were asked how they felt about participating in this event. Jace Salas, 14, states “I enjoyed serving the community by supplying school supplies students needed." Jude Salas, 12, said “I felt this was fun blessing students with packs they didn’t have to buy while serving Jesus Christ.” Matthew Castro, 18, felt that “it was fun and challenging loading all the supplies. I enjoyed serving the community and Jesus Christ.”

The bus heads back to the Salvation Army’s Headquarters in Tiyan where Guam Telephone Authority (GTA) volunteers will finish the other 300 backpacks to make a total of 500 backpacks full of everything students need to do their best in school. A big shout out to all who volunteered and donated to make the “Fill the Bus” goal a reality. Way to go Barrigada Stake, Helping Hands, and Guam!