Guthrie Bus Driver Receives Support After Facebook Post Asking For Bottled Water

A Guthrie school bus driver is getting a lot of support over a Facebook post asking for cases of bottled water.  

This is all about keeping kids cool once school starts, but she says her mission can be pretty expensive.

You can imagine with the heat right now, the first few weeks of school can be brutal for kids on a hot bus with no air-conditioning.   

Bus driver Brenda Burns says a cold bottle of water for her riders can be critical. This year though, her goal is to have water on hand for every bus rider in the district.

Brenda has been a Guthrie school bus driver for the past four years and she says a summer on a hot bus can be downright dangerous. 

“Come on up and I’ll show you how hot it is in here right now, Whew, I mean you can’t even breathe,” said Burns. ”The little ones are hot, and wanting to go to sleep, and I don’t let them go to sleep because I’m afraid that they’ll get overheated.”

And imagine being on the bus, in some instances for more than an hour!

“It’s dangerous. The heat is dangerous, and I just want to take care of them,” says Burns.

So she went to Facebook. Her single post has garnered the attention of hundreds across town.

She was instantly bombarded with support.

“I know that the community of Guthrie cares about their children, but the amount I got really did shock me. I was amazed,” says Burns.

Guthrie school bus drivers cover most of Logan County. Brenda says some kids live close to 50 miles away.

“These children are like my own, and I just feel the need to make them as comfortable as they can from their ride home from school, I mean, It’s hot out there,” says Burns.

Brenda is already getting a ton of donated water just from her Facebook post alone. The plan is have enough on hand to have throughout the school year.

Brenda says Guthrie public schools is working on a plan right now to try and revise some of the bus routes so the young riders don't have to travel so far.

If you like to help Brenda out, you can call the bus barn at 405-282-5919, or Brenda at 405-973-8518.