Penny and Bill Cutler have supported ECS in many ways through the years.

One of their favorite things to give is their time – this year, through the Fill the Bus campaign, our annual back-to-school drive which gathers backpacks and classroom essentials for students in ECS program participants.

The Cutlers have made financial gifts in the past, “but when we can, we do like to volunteer with action,” Penny said.

As a former Philadelphia school teacher, Penny knows well that many students struggle with getting their required supplies. “I bought tons of supplies for [my] students, so I hoped to help a bit with that problem with this project.” They also helped gather donated supplies from fellow parishioners at the Church of Our Saviour, Jenkintown.

Leslie Ross, parish and board relations administrator, has coordinated all ECS drives for two years now. “[We] had some amazing volunteers who came in to help me,” Leslie said. “And I couldn’t have managed without them!” The Cutlers went down the checklist, bringing together pencils, notebooks, calculators and such, to stuff backpacks for elementary, middle, and high school students. Bags were then coded by recipient grade-level to make distribution a breeze.

“It turned out to be much more mammoth a job than I thought it would be,” Penny recalled, but it was well worth it. “[ECS] is a good place to put your efforts. They are doing things that matter,” Penny added.

And we can say the same of the Cutlers.