{"id":3034,"date":"2016-02-09T11:49:55","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T18:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/portland\/?page_id=3034"},"modified":"2025-11-13T12:05:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:05:39","slug":"operation-school-bell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/greater-portland\/philanthropic-programs\/operation-school-bell\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation School Bell"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Operation School Bell\u00ae<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

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Imagine a child who attends school with no underwear or socks, who owns only one set of clothes, who goes to school without a jacket and wears sandals in the middle of winter.<\/h3>\n

Operation School Bell, started in 1998, serves <\/strong>over 5500 <\/strong>students each year with brand new clothes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Families Tell Us<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cWe currently live in our car and have been having a rough time, my daughters feel amazing with the new clothes. Took some pressure off me. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a single mother. I struggle to pay rent and bills and food. Clothing and other activities come second. It is a blessing to have some help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are surviving past domestic violence, having to start over totally. Programs like this have saved us.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Students Tell Us<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cIn school, I couldn\u2019t focus because of how cold I was. My shoes had holes in them and made my socks wet. Not cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cClothing has an impact on school success because you\u2019re not thinking about how you\u2019re dressed badly at school. You are not worried about people\u2019s judgement and instead focused on schoolwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to have new shoes that fit better and extra socks and underwear.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”3934″ img_size=”large”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

School Counselors Tell Us<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen positive changes in behavior, social and school engagement.\u00a0 When kids feel they belong with their peers it supports all aspects of their school experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies are able to utilize the small amount of funds for things like paying for the electricity bill to keep the lights and heat on.\u00a0 This may seem like a small act for our students, but it is helping to keep more of our kids from experiencing houselessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAccess to winter clothing has a direct impact on student attendance (which impacts learning and achievement), especially on school days where the weather is particularly cold, wet and miserable.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”3838″ img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

How we help: Beaverton – Hillsboro – Portland<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

The stress and embarrassment of wearing clothes that don\u2019t fit can negatively affect that child\u2019s self-esteem and impact their ability to focus. Teachers and counselors tell us that they know when children have received our services because they show more confidence. They come to school ready to learn.<\/p>\n

In Beaverton and Hillsboro, school counselors collaborate with our volunteers to ensure that children in need receive Operation School Bell shopping vouchers to be used at 4 local Fred Meyer Stores. In the Portland Public Schools, the North Clackamas School District, and the Parkrose, Centennial, David Douglas, Gresham\/Barlow and Reynolds School Districts, the Assistance League of Greater Portland purchases new clothing for the clothing closets serving those school districts.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Operation School Bell\u00ae [\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”3463″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””] Imagine a child who attends school with no underwear or socks, who owns only one set of clothes, who goes to school without a jacket and wears sandals in the middle of winter. Operation School Bell, started in 1998, serves over 5500 students each year with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"parent":980,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3034","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/greater-portland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/greater-portland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/greater-portland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/greater-portland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/greater-portland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3034"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/greater-portland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5653,"href":"https:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/greater-portland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3034\/revisions\/5653"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/greater-portland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.assistanceleague.org\/greater-portland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}