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Stuff the Yellow Bus welcomes all of the above to benefit the Amphitheater School District Clothing Bank, El Rio Community Health Center and United Cerebral Palsy of Southern Arizona. The bus also accepts contributions of food for the Interfaith Community Services Food Bank.

The holiday drive, which continues from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Saturday at the northeast corner of Oracle and Orange Grove roads in the Ace Hardware parking lot, was started five years ago by Nancy Montoya-Ijams and her husband, Kirt Ijams to fill needs of local nonprofits.

The Ijams co-own Media Source America, a media- and community-relations firm that works primarily with nonprofits and educational institutions.

“We did lots of stories about nonprofits and kids and we saw these nonprofits were dying for supplies — they had no holiday toys and the clothing bank had no clothes. I said, ‘Let’s get a bus and do a drive,’ … and it was like ‘Field of Dreams,’ where they said, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ For us it is, ‘If you park it, they will give,’ ” said Montoya-Ijams.

Last year the value of donated items was more than $250,000, which Montoya-Ijams attributes to the generous hearts of Tucsonans and sponsors such as Ace Hardware, Plaza del Oro Shopping Center, La Mesa RV and Security Fence of Arizona.

“This community inspires me. I have lived all over the world, but this is home. I was born and raised in Arizona and my husband was born and raised in Tucson, and we have never seen a community so conscious of the needs of others,” she said.

Montoya-Ijams believes the appeal of Stuff the Yellow Bus is two-fold: All donations remain local and all target the working poor.

“There are lots of people who receive welfare and assistance from the state and they get more help than the working poor. We are aiming at the middle- to low-income families that have a mom and dad who are both working and are barely keeping a roof over their heads. They can buy food and clothes but there is no extra,” she said.

Most of the 350 families assisted annually by the Amphitheater Clothing Bank fit this profile, according to Director Susan Canty.

“Our goal is to help the families who may be making a choice between buying a pair of shoes for a kid or eating this week or between buying medicine or some new clothes,” she said.

Canty was delighted by the results of a shoe drive held several weekends ago at Stuff the Yellow Bus, along with underwear and sock drives held over the past few weeks. She said that these items are always needed by families seeking assistance.

“Shoes are so important because a kid can’t go to school without them. One of our principals told us a story about when he worked in another district and noticed that only one child from a particular family would come to school at a time. They had one pair of shoes and took turns coming to school. That story has stuck with me,” she said.

During the holidays, the clothing bank is providing not only clothing for the families it serves, but also a holiday toy for parents to give each child.

“I got a hug like you wouldn’t believe from a woman last week. She was so thankful. She said, ‘This is just not a good year for us, and you don’t know how much it is helping,’ ” Canty said.

If Stuff the Yellow Bus is not convenient, donors can find drop-off locations citywide for new toys for the nonprofit Shyann Kindness Project.

The holiday toy drives provide toys that are distributed to underprivileged and medically fragile children at twice-monthly Kindness Gift Giving Events year-round.

Additionally, toys will be distributed to 200 children on Friday at a Christmas party at C.E. Rose Pre-K-8 School and to 130 children from low-income families at two local schools at a “Christmas in January” party.

“Our biggest need is items for kids ages nine to 12. We never get enough donated for them and that is our toughest age because they are no longer into toys but don’t do make-up. Plus I think people often don’t think of the older kids. They think about little kids with cute little toys at the holidays, but we serve kids up to age 18,” said Executive Director Sandy Rosati.

Rosati said footballs and other sports balls, lotion sets, hair items, LEGOs and craft supplies such as jewelry-making kits and other craft kits are good, cost-effective options.

“Michaels is my best friend when they have a sale, and there are great clearance items at Target and Walgreens,” Rosati said. “Every year somebody at the Christmas party says that if it weren’t for the party, their kids wouldn’t get any gifts, so anything makes a difference.”