Operation School Bell®
Assistance League of Bellingham is best known for our signature program, Operation School Bell, which provides new school clothing and shoes to students in need in K through 12 grades. Operation School Bell serves eight local school districts; Bellingham, Blaine, Ferndale, Lynden, Meridian, Mt. Baker, Nooksack and Lummi. Each district is allotted a specific number of “slots” based on enrollment. The school district homeless liaison coordinators, who work with low income and homeless families, select the students who participate in Operation School Bell.
We partner with Target to allow students and their families to shop together. Each student receives $100 to select school appropriate clothing and shoes. It is a wonderful experience for our volunteers to hear the happy voices and see the excitement in the children as they pick out new clothes for the school year ahead. Target employees, school coordinators and Assistance League members all work together to make this happen.
Our Teen Team program, operating under Operation School Bell, is a voucher program for homeless high school students identified by the homeless high school coordinators. The students are given a $125 voucher to purchase clothing and shoes at the Lakeway Fred Meyer. We are very excited to be able to help these students who have expressed a desire to graduate from high school under adverse circumstances.
