Operation School Bell^®

The organization continues to grow and has made inroads in meeting the needs of nearly 9,000 children living in poverty in Southern Utah. The county school district notes that nearly 1,000 of the 31,000 students registered to attend school in 2016 were homeless and in desperate need of basic clothing and supplies. These children and others living in low-income households are the target population for Operation School Bell.

Shopping Events

Low income school-aged children receive new clothes, shoes, hand-knitted hats, and hygiene supplies. When a child’s basic needs are met, they can focus on their education and have a better opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. Last fiscal year, 722 children from 24 schools ranging across the county from Enterprise to Hildale and Colorado City received new school clothing, shoes and supplies.

Literacy

Operation School Bell focuses on enhancing literacy opportunities for children in need:

• Materials for summer reading and preschool literacy programs for 580 students;
• 900 children heard a Dr. Seuss story read to them by our volunteers for Read Across America;
• 150 preschoolers received three books and heard the book read to them by our volunteers;
• 504 books to Dual Language Immersion students learning Chinese and Spanish at 2 schools.

In addition, Adopt a School made an impact with robotics equipment for summer camps.