Interstate Resource Conservation and Development
3020 East First Avenue
Milan, Illinois 61264
Phone 309-764-1486 Extension 4/Fax 309-764-1830
Operation Pack the Bus
Interstate RC&D and WQAD-TV NewsChannel 8 joined forces for
"Operation Pack the Bus" to provide aid to schools and children affected
by Hurricane Katrina. Interstate RC&D has decided to donate their
famous SMART Bus, a traveling bookmobile and educational center
providing fee books and educational materials to children in the
Interstate RC&D five county area, to the Mississippi Coastal Plains RC&D
Council in Perkinston, MS. The SMART Bus will be commissioned into
service as temporary library and school supply center for children in
the Bay St. Louis-Waveland area, one of the parts of Mississippi on the
Gulf Coast devastated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The original SMART Bus is being replaced with a smaller bus donated by Pinks Bus Service in Geneseo, Illinois for the 2006 season. The retired SMART Bus will be filled with school supplies and educational resources for area school children before it makes its long trip to Southern Mississippi and the Gulf Coast.
"Operation Pack the Bus" began on Monday, October 24,
2005 and went through Friday, Nov
ember
18, 2005 where donations we collected and sorted and packed on the bus
by volunteers from Interstate RC&D. The Rock Island County Board donated a semi-tractor and trailer and
two drivers to transport the bus to
Mississippi. WQAD-TV NewsChannel 8 also escorted the bus and reported on its
progress as it headed towards Mississippi along with a convoy of
Interstate RC&D, Rock Island County Board, USDA-NRCS representatives and
other dignitaries from the area.
A Farewell party was held on Sunday, December 4, 2005 at the Rock Island County Highway Department in Milan, Illinois at 2:00 p.m. The bus left on Monday, December 5, 2005 and delivered the bus on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 to Mississippi Coastal Plains RC&D in Perkinston, MS.
Click here for a power point presentation of the trip to Mississippi