Ramona Daniel and Robert Willcutt peruse the boys’ section for school clothes at Kohl’s in Temecula.
A new school year underway to many parents means spending hundreds of dollars on their children’s clothing. Assistance League of Temecula Valley partnered with Kohl’s in Temecula to alleviate this burden by offering $125 for low-income families to buy their student’s clothes for the school year.
Operation School Bell began in 1989 in Temecula and originally outfitted 33 children with new clothes for the school year. This year Assistance League helped pay for 166 children’s’ clothing, Aug. 28, with a goal of assisting 2,400 children. Since 1989, the Temecula Valley chapter has assisted over 35,000 children.
Operation School Bell is run nationwide by every Assistance League chapter that aims to provide underserved children with brand-new clothing to boost their confidence and readiness for the upcoming school year. In the past, Assistance League volunteers would pre-purchase items to give to students, but the organization made a switch to letting individuals choose the clothing from stores about seven years ago, Annette Sheehy, the vice president of philanthropic programs, said.
According to Sheehy, Assistance League has 17 Operation School Bell events planned this fall across Temecula Valley, Murrieta Valley, Lake Elsinore, Menifee and Romoland school districts, Menifee Valley Community Cupboard, Hope in Lake Elsinore and Community Mission of Hope in Temecula. These events take place at several Kohl’s and Target locations.
Students were allowed to purchase school-appropriate clothing such as shoes, socks, underwear, jackets, sweaters, shirts, tops, jeans, pants, shorts, dresses and skirts, with the exception of clothing with pictures or text that could be demeaning to any race, gender or religion.
Families were granted $125 per child, but with an additional Kohl’s 15 percent discount, they were able to purchase $143.75 worth of clothing. Families were encouraged to stay within the allowance, and if they were more than $5 over their allowance, they had to cover the residual costs.
Volunteers arrived at 3:30 p.m. with four representatives from Wells Fargo and stayed until 8:30 p.m. until all the registered families were served. Two hundred students were able to sign up for the Aug. 28 event, Sheehy said that online registration filled up within a few hours.
“The biggest changes we’ve made this year has been adding in two districts to our coverage,” she said. Assistance League worked with TVUSD Public Information Officer Laura Boss in previous years to create the online registration system rather than having to go through school health technicians. They currently run the online system for every district except Menifee, which is still in process.
The operational changes they’ve made in the past and continue to make will help them increase the number of students they can help and the areas covered.
“The look on the children’s faces when they come out of the store is priceless. We like to say that we put the sparkle back in their eyes,” chapter President Denise Lanier said.
Sheehy said that Operation School Bell is important to the community because it meets a need that is not addressed by other nonprofits. In addition, shopping in stores teaches students about financial management and allows greater freedom in the clothes they choose, she said.
For more information, visit http://www.assistanceleague.org/temecula-valley.
See the full story with photos: https://www.myvalleynews.com/story/2018/09/07/community/assistance-league-gives-temecula-children-new-school-clothes/62398.html
