What do motorcycles, firemen and back-to-school gear have in common?

According to Keith Ecklund, retired firefighter and current Axemen MC member, there is quite a lot of common ground between the three.

The Axemen MC New York Chapter 4 motorcycle club is starting up the Fill The Bus school supply drive for the upcoming school year, and is proud to announce several drop-off locations.

The motorcycle club consists of retired or active firefighters from Jamestown and the surrounding areas who hope to make an impact in the community.

“This got started years ago with my wife and myself because my wife, Kim Ecklund, was the president of the neighborhood watch,” Ecklund said. “She came up with the idea, and felt there was a need to help out the kids.”

He said the group chose to collect school supplies because it is a need that children throughout the city encounter.

“It impacts so many kids in the area,” Ecklund said. “Plus, the teachers and administrators benefit from it, too. Without the help of the BPU, Jamestown Public Schools, the banks and the drop-off points, this wouldn’t be possible.”

The Axemen took over the event last year, and hope to make it bigger and better every year, he added.

“We take the donations, and we separate them (into groups) for each individual school,” Ecklund said. “We distribute the supplies to the schools as evenly as we can, and we try to accommodate everyone as best we can. Last year, we got about three big cardboard boxes per school.”

He added that the collection is an effort to provide students in Jamestown Public Schools District with the tools and supplies they need to succeed.

“It gets the supplies to the kids. There is a need for the supplies in the schools,” Ecklund said. “Kids are kids – they don’t always bring what they need with them to school. We’re here to do what we can (for them).”

The group will be collecting pens, pencils, erasers, folders, spiral notebooks, dividers, index cards, highlighters, back packs, zipper pouches, post-it notes, pencil boxes, rulers, tissues, crayons, wide-ruled, loose-leaf paper and three-ring, 1-inch binders.

There are several locations for donations to be dropped off, including the Jamestown Police Department lobby, Jamestown Fire Department, Chautauqua Striders, Southside Redemption Center, M&T Bank on Foote Avenue, Jamestown Area Community Federal Credit Union on Second Street, and Community Bank locations in Jamestown, Falconer and Lakewood.

The collection began on Aug. 1, and will continue until Sept. 12, when the Axemen members will have a culminating event at Friendly’s.

A school bus will be on location, where club members will attempt to “fill the bus” with donated supplies, and Friendly’s will donate 20 percent of profits to the drive for patrons who use a special coupon.

Ecklund encourages other locations that would like to be a drop-off point to contact him at 664-1398 or email him at azemenny4@gmail.com.

“Our whole mission is to provide charity to the community. We’re made up of professional firefighters from Jamestown, and other local areas,” he said, adding some might get the wrong impression from their leather vests and motorcycles. “If they look at the patches, they can see it’s all about firefighting. We’re not like the ‘Sons of Anarchy’ or anything, and we just try to give back to the community.”