YORK, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — There's a Stuff A Bus event in York that got started because of a bus driver who wanted to help one of the students in her rearview mirror.
Morning bus pick up is a chilly routine during the month of December, but it's the affection Liz Caramihalis gets from the students that warms her heart. She's often handed thank you letters from students getting on and off her bus. It's what inspires her to find ways to give back.
"You pick kids up in kindergarten and they go right through high school with you," said Caramihalis.
Three years ago she decided to help 15-year-old Jackson Forbes. The student on her bus route was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma. A type of bone cancer and a diagnosis that Annie Forbes never wanted to hear from her son's doctor.
"It was really hard. It's still hard just looking back on it, but you just sort of get put in a situation and you do what you do," said Annie.
The year Jackson was diagnosed, Caramihalis organized a Stuff A Bus event to benefit him. Though he's now cancer free she's continued to stuff her bus for the Maine Children's Cancer Program. She collects toys for the younger patients as well as electronics and gift cards for teenagers who are often overlooked during the holidays.
"It's really good," said Caramihalis. "They bring the carts out and the kids just kind of make a big train of handing out and putting the gifts on the carts and bringing them in."
This year's Stuff A Bus will take place Saturday from 9-6 at the Fisherman's Dock on Route One in York.
