This story appears in Birmingham magazine’s July 2016 Issue. Subscribe today!
Chances are, you haven’t noticed the building at 1755 Oxmoor Road.
Located in the hub of Homewood’s always hip SOHO district, it has some of the city’s most prime real estate, but it’s pretty easy to overlook. A few colorful statues of children sit in front of the building, but for the most part, it’s pretty unassuming. Giant green tin roof. Off-white façade.
But the outside of the building isn’t what matters. Because inside the building is Assistance League Birmingham, a nonprofit organization full of volunteers working toward bettering the lives of children across the city.
What They Do
Assistance League Birmingham is a sort-of umbrella organization for several programs, and one of the most notable is Operation School Bell. It has been around since 1985 and gives clothing and hygiene kits to disadvantaged schoolchildren from Jefferson County. Here’s how it works: school counselors recommend students to Assistance League, and then, if the parents sign off on it, the kids take the school bus to the Homewood offices. (Some students, according to Jennifer Duzane, who is chairman of the program, don’t get to come because their parents can’t afford the $5 that many of the schools require for the bus trip).
So already, the kids are excited because they get a bit of a field trip and a chance to get out of the classroom. But then, when they discover that they get some goodies in a tote bag to take home with them, their excitement grows even more, according to Duzane.
The goodies include items such as hoodies, shoes, jeans, short-sleeved shirts, underwear, socks, a hygiene kit, pencils, and a book. (And students from schools that have a uniform policy get some uniforms as well.) The students get to try on the clothes and decide what they want, and that’s part of the fun, according to Barb Kelly, who is president-elect of Assistance League Birmingham.
“They’ve been given a choice, which is a rare luxury for them,” she says. “(We’ll ask them) ‘what color is your favorite color? We’ll find it for you.”
And the students have opinions. Oh, they have plenty of those. Some Bama fans don’t want orange T-shirts. Some Auburn fans don’t want anything red. And that’s fine: They have plenty to choose from in the large room that seems to house more clothes than some department stores.
But no matter how many clothes the nonprofit purchases (it costs about $125 to clothe each student), it doesn’t stop demand from getting higher. This past school year saw more kids coming into the Homewood offices than ever before. Which means the organization needs more funds than ever before.
They get what they need from grant-writing, philanthropy and donations, plus sales from Encore Thrift Store, which is also located in their Homewood building. But in the end, all of the hard work is worth it.
“When you get the hugs, it’s worth the hassle,” Duzane says.
