NATCHEZ — School won’t start back for another month, but Saturday members of the Natchez Junior Auxiliary were out in an effort to pack a school bus — with school supplies, that is.

As part of “Operation Back to School,” Junior Auxiliary members parked a school bus just outside the entrance to Walmart and solicited donations of school supplies or money from shoppers entering and exiting the store.

In what has become a yearly fundraiser, the Junior Auxiliary collects the school supplies for students in Adams County schools who might show up for the first day of school without the proper supplies, Junior Auxiliary member Kelley Walker said.

“We compiled all the school supply lists together so people can get the specific supplies for the schools,” Walker said.

That list was available for people going into the store, and some of the donations that came back to the group were in remembrance of past school supply drives.

“We have had several people give (a donation) who said, ‘My children have benefited from this in the past,’” Pack the Bus Chair Joanna Brumfield said.

This year, the donations trickled in one item at a time, but they all added up.

“A lot of people will buy one thing — a pack of pencils, some pens — but we have still managed to get a lot of school supplies,” Brumfield said.

The money donations are usually taken and used to buy backpacks for students who might need them, Walker said.

Standing with a bucket for monetary donations in one hand and a sign asking for school supplies in another, Tiffiany Kyzar said the Miss-Lou’s shoppers have had a big heart.

“Everybody has been pretty generous with us,” she said.

Anyone who wants to donate supplies should contact a Junior Auxiliary member for more information, or can send money to P.O. Box 1592, Natchez, MS, 39121.