The award has been given only three times in Long Beach during the 80-year history of the local chapter.

“Long Beach Unified School District has been Operation School Bell’s biggest advocate for several years and has helped in numerous ways,” said Valerie Hayward, president of the Board for Assistance League of Long Beach. “LBUSD is the epitome of a strong supporter and partner of our programs. We are honored to work with such an exemplary school district.”

Hayward said district has readily obliged when asked to help promote Operation School Bell to school administrators, with Assistance League staff always present at the principals’ meetings early in the school year to explain how to access services.

The school district’s assistance delivering students’ backpacks also has been invaluable, Hayward said.

“We pack on average 1,000 or more bags per packing day. In the past our member volunteers would caravan to schools and deliver the backpacks. We reached out to the district, and they immediately had their fleet maintenance manager contact us. Over the past few years, we have been working with the fleet maintenance manager to help deliver the backpacks to two or more schools in a day. Students have been receiving their school uniforms more quickly.”

During the past year, the school district also worked closely with the Assistance League to address food insecurity issues in the community. Operation School Bell collaborated with the Assistance League’s Assisteens Auxiliary in piloting the Adopt A Family Student Food Program.

“Dr. Baker (LBUSD superintendent) offered both her personal and professional support of the pilot project while working with our Assisteens member volunteers” Hayward said. “The project was to pack beans, rice and seasonings into 5,000 food packets that would later be distributed to district students. On the day of the event, former Superintendent Chris Steinhauser, Dr. Baker and Mr. Mark Chavez from Nutrition Services, members of the Board of Education and other LBUSD volunteers helped with the packing of food for the program.”

Operation School Bell is the signature program of Assistance League, providing assistance to children in need. Chapters determine the specific needs in their local communities, then develop, fund and implement the programs. The Rick Rackers Auxiliary manages the Operation School Bell program at Assistance League of Long Beach

Last school year, Operation School Bell provided more than 12,000 students with new school uniforms and school supplies. Many of the students also received a book courtesy of Barnes and Noble and City National Bank.

In 1994, LBUSD became the first public school district in the nation to adopt school uniforms in kindergarten through eighth grade. Hundreds of other school districts nationwide have since followed this example by implementing school uniforms. The Assistance League and Operation School Bell have been instrumental in the success of the widely emulated uniform initiative.

Assistance League of Bend recently presented the National Operation School Bell Award to Jim and Lezlie McConnell, founders of Light Elegance based in Redmond, Oregon.  The Award was given by the National Board in recognition of their dedicated continued support in clothing children in need in Deschutes County.  Light Elegance has been the presenting sponsor for Assistance League of Bend’s Annual Gala for the last 4 years and provides additional financial support to Operation School Bell through their generosity during the event.  This award has been presented only seven times in Assistance League of Bend’s 26 year history and is intended to honor those who have a direct, powerful and positive effect on the children in our community.

Christy Perry and Glen Chapman

The Salem-Keizer Public School employees were recognized by the Assistance League of Salem-Keizer, Oregon for their dedication and partnership in clothing children in need.  This collaboration is of long standing, dating back to when the chapter was still a guild, approximately 58 years ago! From those humble beginnings, Operation School Bell^® now serves over 3200 students yearly in K-12 grades.  Salem-Keizer Schools has been a valued partner every step of the way making it possible for Operation School Bell to serve so many students without overextending our volunteer base.  A couple of examples of this collaboration include:

• the school district’s mail delivery vans pick up bags filled with clothing orders at Operation School Bell and deliver to designated schools
• Community School Outreach Coordinators assigned to Title 1 schools determine student eligibility, manage gift cards for clothes and shoes and pick up the items at local merchants after the high school student has completed their shopping

The award was presented to school superintendent Christy Perry and mail delivery driver Glen Chapman at the Chapter annual meeting in May, 2018. The inscription on the award reads: FOR THEIR DEDICATION AND PARTNERSHIP IN CLOTHING CHILDREN IN NEED.

Janet Sheahan, 2017-2018 president, described Ute as “the epitome of an individual who gives her life to make a difference and is, therefore, perfect as an Operation School Bell Award recipient.”

Ute tells our chapter members over and over how grateful she is and that we are a “true blessing”; we would turn around and say that Ute Rowe is a true blessing to our chapter and to our community as she helps students stay in school and turn their circumstances around so they have a better chance of succeeding in life.

The event grossed $143,000 for the local chapter of Assistance League and its community service programs. Assistance League of Greater Portland, celebrating their 20th year of clothing children through their flagship philanthropy, Operation School Bell, clothed 4,041 children in Portland, Beaverton and Hillsboro this school year. We have seen a huge growth in our program since the first year, in which we gave jackets to 38 students.

Sponsoring the event were O’Donnell Law Firm, LLC, Albina Co., Inc., NW Natural, US Bank, Silver Lining Jewelry, Alaska Airlines, Porsche Beaverton, Audi Beaverton, Fred Meyer, Dustin Funes of the Meadows Group Inc., Realtors, Seams to Fit, and PacTrust. Local merchants also donated generously for the live and silent auctions.

Assistance League of Greater Portland has been improving lives through community-based programs since 1965. Assistance League member volunteers provide five community service programs. The programs serve local families in need by providing new school clothing, enrichment activities for troubled youth, personal history books for foster and abused children, emergency clothing for assault victims and a scholarship program. In addition to grants, sponsorships and donations, funds are raised at Assistance League Thrift and Consignment Shops at 4000 SW 117th Avenue in Beaverton.

Mr Greene also received congratulatory letter from National President Susan Dolan. Mr. Greene received the award for his outstanding support for the Operation School Bell program. He is at every event and goes out of his way to supply needed uniforms and school clothes for our low income students in the High Desert.

On the evening of February 21, 2018, it was a wonderful privilege for Assistance League of Santa Clarita to present the National Operation School Bell^® Award to the Board of Trustees of the Sulphur Springs Union School District.  Working with this school district, it was determined some families may lack the means of transportation to the Old Navy Store that partners with our chapter for Operation School Bell.  The school principals worked together and were able to provide school buses and hired drivers to bring families to the store.  The participation from this district increased vastly because of this effort.  New school clothing and shoes were given to approximately 430 children.

The evening was a wonderful celebration of success.  Our President, Linda Likins, presented the award to Mr. Ken Chase, School Board President, at the monthly board meeting.  She spoke of the efforts made, and the increased participation from the Sulphur Springs families.  She explained that this award is infrequently presented.  About thirty of our members were in attendance to say thank you to the trustees.   We brought a large decorated cake that was enjoyed by everyone attending this celebration of our wonderful philanthropic program, Operation School Bell.

Third and fourth from the left: Rosemary Dirksen, President, Assistance League Southeasten Michigan, and Andrea Hollingsworth, Miller Vein Marketing Director

Miller Vein is a local medical facility, staffed by specialists who create a variety of state of the art vein treatments. For the past 3 years, Miller Vein has volunteered at our Operation School Bell^® elementary school distributions. Dr. Jeffrey Miller closes all of his 5 offices for one day and brings his entire staff to help students shop for the new items our chapter provides. Arriving early, they assist our members in unloading the trucks and setting up the room to resemble a store. Each volunteer is paired with a student to make this a magical shopping experience, not only for the student, but for the volunteer who comes away knowing that a child will have a warm winter coat plus all the necessities to boost self-esteem.

In addition to being a community volunteer, Dr. Miller and Miller Vein have been a Platinum Sponsor at our annual fundraising event, Mistletoe Marketplace, which is held every November. The award presentation took place at our 2017 Mistletoe Marketplace luncheon attended by 723 guests. Unfortunately, Dr. Miller was unable to attend but Rosemary Dirksen, Chapter President, presented the award to Andrea Hollingsworth, Marketing Director of Miller Vein, and staff members Becky Soma, Christopher Schmid and Michelle Monahan. The presentation was made again to Dr. Miller in his office at a later date.

Dr. Miller and his staff have gone beyond in helping our chapter make a difference in the lives of the students we serve. It is because of this commitment, we are proud to present to them the National Assistance League Operation School Bell Award.