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Home > Archive > Feb 21, 2008

By Katrice Schimbeck
Staff Writer
Grade school is usually a fun time, full of friends, playing and learning. It’s a time when children become socially aware and learn how to interact with others. Unfortunately, problems may stand in the way of developing these crucial skills.
Food assistance provides underprivileged children with breakfast to start the day and fuel to keep going at lunch. But a child might not want to interact with other children or even go to recess if the child is not clothed properly.
This is where Operation School Bell, one of the programs of the new Assistance League, helps out.
Marilyn Valle and her husband, Tom, were instrumental in bringing the Assistance League to Southern Utah.
An initial meeting for those interested in joining this volunteer program took place Feb. 7, and 36 people joined to start the first Assistance League Guild in Southern Utah. They hope to grow to become an official chapter in a year.
Operation School Bell is just one of many programs the national organization runs. The program helps children who otherwise go without adequate clothing.
“We feel so inadequate; we’re not even making a dent. We had no idea of the need in St. George,” Marilyn Valle said.
Operation school Bell has been operating in the area for seven years on a limited basis under the Salt Lake City Chapter of the Assistance League. The program started in the St. George area at East Elementary, with teacher Christy Whitaker. She ran “Angels Among Us,” a program where children would raise money at Christmastime through pledges to run or shoot hoops. Marilyn Valle connected with her to help. She knew the Assistance League could get the clothing for a fraction of the cost. 
“We can get the dollars to go a lot farther,” Marilyn Valle said.
Permission forms initiated through school counselors went home to parents. Parents give consent, and the form is filled out with the child’s name, age, size and schoolroom number.
“We started with 50 to 60 kids, then a hundred, and last year we gave out 274 bags,” Marilyn Valle said.
Each bag contains one coat, a pair of jeans, a hooded sweatshirt, two T-shirts, six pairs of socks, six underwear, and a toothbrush with a large tube of toothpaste.
“The toothbrush is our most commented-on item,” Tom Valle said.
He said they are excited that they don’t have to share toothbrushes anymore. 
A volunteer will take a child’s order form and pick out the clothing. When volunteers go to that child’s school, the same volunteer will give the clothes to the child and make sure they fit.
Some children think they might need to wait until Christmas to use their items given to them in October. In October, two girls who were living in a culvert with their parents started coming to school after the clothes were picked up, but before distribution. 
“Of course, we dig a little deeper and come up with clothes for them,” Marilyn Valle said. “But we’re limited by the money we raise.”
That is one of the purposes of the Assistance League. To join, the dues are minimal, most likely less than $60 a year – bit that is one item to be decided at the group’s next meeting, along with choosing officers.
The league will organize fundraising events and get the clothing bags to the children. The Salt Lake Chapter clothed nearly 6,000 children last year.
“We have to raise our own money. All our money we raise stays in Washington County,” Tom Valle said. “A lot of people want to help; they don’t know how to help.”
Red Rock Rotary has helped raise $8,000 for Operation School Bell through a fundraiser, and Wal-Mart has given grants. All money raised goes toward clothing for children. The clothing is new, up-to-date and purchased wholesale through the Assistance League.
Sometimes the Assistance League has a surplus of clothing. This month, 125 such coats were distributed to 11 Head Start classrooms for preschoolers. Everything that comes into the Assistance League is distributed.
“We don’t want to duplicate services,” Tom Valle said. 
Other Assistance League programs include Operation Book Bag, Operation Healthy Teeth, Baby Bundles, Rape Survival Kits, to name a few.
The new Assistance League in Southern Utah will operate under the Salt Lake City Chapter for the next year but needs to become independent. This will require a warehouse to store clothing and a meeting place. The young organization hopes to rise to the need. The next meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 21, at 10 a.m. at the St. George branch of the Washington County Library. For more information on this program, call Marilyn Valle at (801) 201-4324 or e-mail her at margro@xmission.com.

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