Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 1, January 2004

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

Assistance League provides clothes for kids

By JAMES BUSH

The North 45th Street headquarters of Operation School Bell looks like the children's clothing store it is.

On a recent weekday, a pair of Seattle Public Schools District family support workers and Operation School Bell volunteers were shepherding small groups of children through the process of trying on new clothes for school. There's just one thing missing in this store: a cash register.

Operation School Bell, the most high-profile program funded by the Assistance League of Seattle, provides new clothing to low-income Seattle Public Schools students. Since 1989, the program has outfitted more than 10,000 children for school. Georgia Oistad, program co-chair, says that since the program opened for business this school year on Sept. 9, more than 800 kids have picked out new school clothes. "We normally serve 1,100 children [annually], but we're going to go over that this year," she says. "We have five appointments a day and there are four children at each appointment."

The quality of the clothing children receive through the program's $90,000 annual budget is a matter of pride for Assistance League members such as Oistad and fellow Operation School Bell co-chair Nancy Migchelbrink. Each child receives a winter jacket, a hat and gloves, two pairs of jeans, two T-shirts, a full sweat suit, six pairs each of underwear and socks, and a hygiene kit. It's brand-new, brand-name clothing, as well, not the hand-me-downs many of the kids who visit Operation School Bell have grown used to.

Gazing into a mirror, a boy trying on a shiny red quilted jacket beams at his reflection. "We're so lucky to have this," says Diane Weibling, Seattle Public Schools family support worker. "It takes a huge amount of stress off the families."

While Operation School Bell is the Assistance League's best-known program, the organization also sponsors the Financial Aid for Education program, which targets students at area community colleges who would otherwise be unable to afford college, and Kids on the Block, a group which visits elementary schools and performs skits using life-sized puppets to dramatize issues faced by children. Gloria Garling, the publicity chair for the group, points to one important number in this year's annual report: more than 21,300 volunteer hours donated by Assistance League members.

Much of this work takes place at the two houses along North 45th which house Operation School Bell and the league's Bargain Fair thrift shop. It takes 32 volunteer shifts per month to run Operation School Bell and another 44 shifts to run the thrift store operation, adds Migchelbrink.

Likewise, Bargain Fair obtains all of its men's and women's clothing, kitchen items, linens, books, and other household items through donations. "Every Monday we go through every bit of the merchandise that comes in," says Elizabeth Kerr, Bargain Fair co-chair. "We don't ever put anything on the floor that we think is not up to high standards."

Kerr credits Bargain Fair co-chair Lori Munson with helping to keep prices at the store at a reasonable level. Munson always argues that items should be priced to sell, says Kerr, and she usually wins the argument.

The Assistance League of Seattle was formed in 1962 as the 31st chapter of the National Assistance League. Founded in California in 1919, the Assistance League "is the only charity that started on the West Coast and moved east," says chapter president Shirley Burnett.

The group's first thrift store was located downtown, close to the grounds of the Seattle World's Fair, relocating first to Lake City, then to the Wallingford neighborhood.

Even while paying off the mortgage on its second Wallingford building (which was accomplished in just three years), the group has kept the percentage of total income which goes to its programs above 81 percent (it's now at about 83 percent), says Burnett. "I think that's just outstanding."

Unlike many charities, which have a hard time recruiting new members, the Assistance League has an active recruiter in board member Kit Guise. "She's very persuasive," says Kerr. "I thought I'd done all my volunteer work until Kit came along." It also has an active young professional group, which put on the group's annual fundraising auction last month. Says Burnett of the young professionals: "We're hoping that it'll sneak up on them and pretty soon they'll be us."

* * *

The Assistance League's Bargain Fair thrift store is located at 1419 N 45th St.; 547-4680.