Both the bus and van were filled with donations for the Jennifer and Joe VanderSchuur-Nash family whose home was destroyed by fire Tuesday afternoon. The family has four children who all attend Thornapple Kellogg Schools.
As the bus backed into the driveway, family members anxiously waited and watched in disbelief that so many people donated so much in such a short amount of time. They stood in awe as bus drivers and members of the transportation department began unloading box after box and bag after bag of donations.
“Tell everyone thank you for us. We certainly don’t know what we would do without all this support,” said Jennifer, with tears in her eyes. “It’s a little overwhelming, but in a good way. It's the best news we've had all week.”
She said her children’s teachers have all been in contact with her to find out ways they can help as well.
Joe helped take the donations and put them into a waiting truck and trailer. t’s unbelievable,” he said. “Two days ago, I was homeless. This is just incredible.”
It was TK bus driver David Vanheck who started the whole donation drive. He drives the route where the children are picked up daily. In a social media post Tuesday, (the day of the fire), he wrote:
“This comes with a heavy heart to post. Earlier this afternoon one of my bus families’ house burned to the ground. As the kids loaded my bus this afternoon with smiles on their faces telling me about their day, in my head I knew what they were about to go home to. Nothing.... A home destroyed. My heart broke. I'm asking for this beautiful community that I have seen time and time again pull together as one, to help.”
He had already received approval to have the transportation garage be a donation center for everything the family needs. Donations started pouring in immediately. It didn’t take long before the transportation department decided to start loading up a bus.
The family is staying with a relative for now. They have a place to go through the donations and store some of them until they find a more permanent home for themselves.
“We have an amazing, supportive community and people come together whenever someone is in need. We quickly realized we were going to fill a bus. All this was donated in about a day. We’re just happy, as the transportation department for the schools, that we were able to help make all this happen," said TK Transportation Director Chuck Walker.
Donations are still being taken until about 2 p.m. Friday at the TK transportation Department. They will make another delivery Friday afternoon before the school holiday break begins. Around the district, teachers and staff in the schools are also collecting gift cards to give to the family.
There is also a GoFundMe page established for the family for monetary donations. It can be found at https://gofund.me/99d92309
Both the bus and van were filled with donations for the Jennifer and Joe VanderSchuur-Nash family whose home was destroyed by fire Tuesday afternoon. The family has four children who all attend Thornapple Kellogg Schools.
As the bus backed into the driveway, family members anxiously waited and watched in disbelief that so many people donated so much in such a short amount of time. They stood in awe as bus drivers and members of the transportation department began unloading box after box and bag after bag of donations.
“Tell everyone thank you for us. We certainly don’t know what we would do without all this support,” said Jennifer, with tears in her eyes. “It’s a little overwhelming, but in a good way. It's the best news we've had all week.”
She said her children’s teachers have all been in contact with her to find out ways they can help as well.
Joe helped take the donations and put them into a waiting truck and trailer. t’s unbelievable,” he said. “Two days ago, I was homeless. This is just incredible.”
It was TK bus driver David Vanheck who started the whole donation drive. He drives the route where the children are picked up daily. In a social media post Tuesday, (the day of the fire), he wrote:
“This comes with a heavy heart to post. Earlier this afternoon one of my bus families’ house burned to the ground. As the kids loaded my bus this afternoon with smiles on their faces telling me about their day, in my head I knew what they were about to go home to. Nothing.... A home destroyed. My heart broke. I'm asking for this beautiful community that I have seen time and time again pull together as one, to help.”
He had already received approval to have the transportation garage be a donation center for everything the family needs. Donations started pouring in immediately. It didn’t take long before the transportation department decided to start loading up a bus.
The family is staying with a relative for now. They have a place to go through the donations and store some of them until they find a more permanent home for themselves.
“We have an amazing, supportive community and people come together whenever someone is in need. We quickly realized we were going to fill a bus. All this was donated in about a day. We’re just happy, as the transportation department for the schools, that we were able to help make all this happen," said TK Transportation Director Chuck Walker.
Donations are still being taken until about 2 p.m. Friday at the TK transportation Department. They will make another delivery Friday afternoon before the school holiday break begins. Around the district, teachers and staff in the schools are also collecting gift cards to give to the family.
There is also a GoFundMe page established for the family for monetary donations. It can be found at https://gofund.me/99d92309