In September 1964, the bus used by Cambridge State School and Hospital to transport residents broke down after 900,000 miles. The bus was unsafe to take residents to Twins games, Como Park, or the circus and was too costly to repair. The legislature had not appropriated money to buy or lease a replacement.

At that time, many stores offered trading stamps to customers with each purchase, so many stamps (points) for each dollar spent. Many families collected them and used them to buy household goods and similar items.

The institution’s volunteer services coordinator, Norm Synstelien, asked parents and members of the Association for Retarded Citizens and other civic groups to donate Gold Bond trading stamps to get a bus. They needed 1,785,000 points or 2,550 filled books. It took a while, but by July 1966 Cambridge had its bus.