Fill the Bus helps 'lift children out of poverty'

"She may not be a native of Northwest Arkansas, but she certainly knows people like she was born and raised here," Kim Aaron says of Christina Hinds, the new vice president for resource development at the United Way of Northwest Arkansas.

"She's got such reach into the community," Aaron, president of the nonprofit organization, adds. "They know her and she knows them -- well."

That made Hinds the perfect choice to help lead an agency that is changing the way it serves Northwest Arkansas. Always known as a "pass-through provider," the United Way traditionally raised money through annual community campaigns and distributed it to other nonprofits deemed "most deserving," Aaron explains. In the past couple of years, it has begun instead to "invest directly in providing the service."

Take, for example, the Gift in Kind Warehouse. Created through a partnership with Wal-Mart, the warehouse takes returned or "damaged" products -- paper goods, personal care, diapers, cleaning supplies, housewares and more -- that would otherwise be destroyed or returned to vendors and distributes them to more than 120 nonprofit agencies that serve needy children and families. There's no middle man -- or middle agency -- financially.

Or there's the 2-1-1 Helpline, described as "a free telephone service that connects individuals in need to important community services in Northwest Arkansas," making it a "direct link between people who need and people who can give help" -- food, shelter, counseling, employment support -- in Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties. Again, there is no middle man financially.

Now, the United Way is "in the middle of strategic planning" to further its goals, and one of the major ones, Hinds says, is "lifting children out of poverty." And that includes the annual Fill the Bus event, which happens Friday and Saturday at Wal-Mart supercenters in eight Northwest Arkansas and southwestern Missouri cities.

In its 12th year, "it provides school supplies to kids who really need those supplies," Hinds explains, "and that really helps impact our mission of lifting children out of poverty. It helps make sure our kids in Northwest Arkansas have the tools they need to go into the classroom and be successful.

"Those kids are the future of Northwest Arkansas, so assuring they have a great start can help set them up for success. Imagine the impact some of these kids might have!"

Hinds says she was fortunate she and husband Steven, who is executive director of public relations and marketing at Northwest Arkansas Community College, could comfortably afford to buy the basics for their son, Blake, who is now a sophomore at the University of Arkansas.

"But this event makes me remember what planning I had to do to make sure we had budgeted for everything he needed for confidence and success," she says. "This supply drive helps parents know they have one less thing on their plate financially -- and what a relief that is!"

Fill the Bus works by encouraging Wal-Mart customers to pick up school supplies as they do their regular Friday or Saturday shopping. Meanwhile, in buses from each community, volunteers wait to sort the donations into categories -- pencils, pens, notebooks, erasers, backpacks and so forth. Once filled, the buses go back to their districts, and school personnel get the supplies into the hands of the children who need them.

It's not just elementary-age kids, Hinds points out. The program serves high school students, too, even if all they need are bigger ticket items like backpacks "sturdy enough to haul all those books."

Steven Hinds says his wife "just has a passion for getting involved in nonprofits," explaining she spent nearly 10 years with the American Heart Association in Northwest Arkansas. Like the Heart Association, which supports a cause nearly everyone can relate to, the United Way's effort for children is another easy one in which to engage donors and volunteers, he adds.

Christina Hinds says years in sales and marketing "on the corporate side" prepared her for work she thinks can impact the community.

"The new challenge for me after spending so long with another nonprofit organization is just energizing," she says. "We have a great team here, and I'm looking forward to the impact we can have on kids living in poverty in Northwest Arkansas."

More about the United Way's new direction will be announced in the next few weeks.

NAN Profiles on 07/17/2016