SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – In honor of National School Bus Safety Week, dozens of school bus drivers for School Bus Inc. in Sioux Falls were treated to breakfast and prizes.
After dropping off kids at school, School Bus Inc. drivers enjoyed a classic egg and bacon breakfast along with a tin of cookies and a gift card to various local restaurants.
This is the third annual breakfast hosted by The Promising Futures Fund to say thank you to bus drivers.
“School bus, drivers are critical to making our schools work. Nearly half of our kids in the Sioux Falls School District are bused to school. And if we didn’t have drivers, kids wouldn’t make it to school,” President CEO with Promising Futures Fund, Steve Hildebrand said.
Sioux Falls School District school board member, Gail Swenson was also in attendance and says having enough bus drivers each year is crucial.
“These bus drivers are the first contact that 8,100 kids have every morning. And they’re the first person they see and they see that smile, they see the welcoming attitude,” Swenson said. “It just starts their day off great.”
Drivers could also win prizes, including Minnesota Vikings tickets and tickets to off-broadways shows at the Washington Pavilion and NCAA basketball games at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
First-year driver, Coach P says he appreciates the flexible schedule this job allows.
“I have met a lot of people and there’s some cool people here and you get a lot of different people from different places. And, you know, we just all come together and you have another extended family pretty much,” Coach P said.
“They have tough jobs, oftentimes thankless jobs. And so we want to just shower them with the appreciation that they deserve for the hard work that they do and for the critical role they play in making our schools work,” Hildebrand said.
The Promising Futures Fund supports 20 schools in the Sioux Falls School District that have high rates of poverty. This weekend the charity is busing 180 eighth graders to the SDSU and USD game in Brookings.
