Operation School Bell® goes shopping

The first Kohl's shopping days for Burr Ridge Middle School, held Sunday and Monday, September 28 & 29, were a huge success on many levels. The kids loved picking out their own clothing and shoes, their moms were thankful for the assistance and ALCW members were amazed at how well the in-store process worked.
A big thank you to BRMS social worker Beth Reynolds who made our job so much easier. She greeted and checked in students two days in a row, missing her own daughter's soccer championship game on Sunday and coming over after a long school day on Monday.


Beth relayed the excitement we could only imagine.

 "Kids came into my office on Monday morning to show off their new clothes," Beth said. "Some girls even twirled around my office."




We also thank the Kohl's employees who came in our their day off to assist the students as part of the Kohl's Cares for Kids program.

"Payton lit up like a Christmas tree when I suggested he get a Blackhawks shirt," said volunteer Ron.

Special kudos to the wonderful cashier who worked two days in a row, making sure the kids received their money's worth. If they were under, she suggested what else they could purchase from the low-priced items set out near the register and if they were over, she helped them make the difficult decision of what to keep and how to make their money come out even.

  

September Chapter Meeting Fun and Informative

What a great September chapter meeting at Teresa Palmitier's lovely home. Joy Aaronson, Community Partnerships Coordinator - Head Start, and Head Start site director and  teacher Nicole Neuhalfen from Family Shelter Services Dupage in Wheaton, gave us a great overview of their mission and how all the Operation Early Reading backpacks we delivered last week are used in Head Start classrooms and home-based programs. We are happy to collaborate with FSS. Members also previewed the new Assistance League impact video and the wonderful rack cards created by VP Marketing Communications Linda Legner. 

Operation Early Reading delivers to Metropolitan Family Services

It was nice meeting with Joy Aaronson, Community Partnerships Coordinator - Head Start and Nicole Cameron, Head Start Director at at Metropolitan Family Services Dupage in Wheaton on September 24. Members assisted Operation Early Reading chairs Patricia Van Hoegarden and Eileen Hanley deliver 32 bins of reading backpacks for school and home-based Head Start programs.

Fernanda Valentino, VP Philanthropic Programs, Joy Aaronson, Nicole Cameron, Jane Cella,  co-chairs Patricia Van Hoegarden and  Eileen Hanley, Marianne Cortopassi

Assistance League® takes Florida by storm, National Conference a huge success

Marianne and Heather

Heather Laughman, president Assistance League of Chicagoland West, and Marianne Cortopassi, member National Marketing Communications Committee, attended the National Assistance League Conference in Orlando, FL on September 3 to 7. The theme was Imagine, Inspire, Innovate.

 Marilyn Panter, President, AL St. Louis

Charlene Liesveld, President AL Omaha

 Diane Dwyer, AL Huntington Beach,

For more on conference, read the article below, written for the National Assistance League website by Marianne Cortopassi.

Hundreds of Assistance League members from around the country converged in Orlando September 3-7 for an opportunity to inspire innovative approaches to community volunteerism through networking, educational sessions and motivational presentations by keynote speakers.

But the 52nd annual National Conference was not business as usual.

While Assistance League has a long tradition of doing good in the communities it serves, the national organization garnered front page and television news coverage in Central Florida by providing clothing to 900 students in need, and arranging to do so in a state without a single Assistance League chapter.

Thirteen National Board officers, including President Nancy Reberger, clothed 150 children at Fallas National Stores on September 3, and then announced that an additional 750 children would receive merchandise vouchers.

As amazing as this generosity seemed to the local population, Assistance League's signature Operation School Bell® program has clothed nearly four million children since 1958 and continues to serve over 330,000 children on an annual basis.

At a celebration luncheon, School District of Osceola County Superintendent Melba Luciano thanked Assistance League for collaborating with Fallas National Stores for the donation of two uniforms each, shoes and other necessities for elementary students at three district schools, where 70 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch and some are homeless.

The only thing we ask is that the community comes to help us," said Luciano. "That is our district goal. For you to come to us, and ask can we come help, we are so appreciative."

Another conference highlight was the preview screening of a powerful national impact video that positions Assistance League as a leading provider of philanthropic programs administered exclusively by volunteers to target specific individual and community needs.

The video was funded through a generous grant from Newman's Own, one of the sponsors of National Make A Difference Day, in recognition of Assistance League's success as one of the ten national honorees.

Individual chapters also participated in the inaugural Chapter Showcase, a colorful and expressive exhibition that lined the hotel's common areas and detailed success stories from Albuquerque to Ventura County and several dozen cities in between.

President Reberger applauded the efforts of all 120 chapters at the annual meeting.

"The philanthropic programs you manage and how they make a positive difference in your communities is the heart and soul of our organization," Reberger said. "They are why we exist. It is inspirational to hear about the programs and to hear members share their heartwarming experiences."

Attendees agree that networking is a wonderful part of National Conference. As a member from the St. Louis chapter explained, "Networking is an outgrowth of the presentations. We hear new ideas, then start talking to the people who implement them."

Assistance League Impact Video

Assistance League in the News

 

  

Assistance League volunteers focus on serving others 

Sara Clarkson

“Would you like to help us pack?”

If an Assistance League of Chicagoland West volunteer asks you that, best put on some jeans or sweatpants. No need to get all gussied up, and do not expect a silver tea service with refreshments. If the ladies take a break, you’ll find your coffee in a paper cup.

Those ladies are asking you to work packing hundreds of coats for needy school children in our area. They will be focused and serious and all about completing their task. That activity and that focus is what an assistance league member means by “hands-on,” and that is what attracts women to volunteer for the assistance league.

Sept. 4, for example, was a rainy day good for sleeping in, reading books or catching up on paperwork, but inside the assistance league office at 120 E. Ogden Ave., it was abuzz with activity. There more than a dozen volunteers — maybe 14, maybe 13 but they were moving pretty quickly and hard to count amidst all the mountains of boxes — were readying winter jackets. They were unpacking them from the warehouse and repacking them with pairs of winter gloves and winter hats into boxes labeled for various ages.

This fall, the assistance league will distribute 2,300 winter coats to school children in the greater Hinsdale area. That number represents an increase of 600 coats, and thus 600 children, from just a few years ago, according to Diane Kurtz, one of five co-chairs of Operation School Bell. Consider that increase — from 1,700 to 2,300 coats — and what it means: for one, just how much need there is right here in our own backyard, and for another, that a child is suffering form that need, and finally that this group of women helps to fill that need.

These women don’t just pack up the coats, according to Laila Alamuddin, another co-chair with Maria Garino, Maureen Hegarty and Phyllis Young. Volunteers will later go to the schools and distribute the coats directly to the kids. That is a joyful day when the women interact directly with the people they are serving, and indeed the programs that ALCW runs are like that — volunteers interact directly with the people they serve.

In addition to providing coats for younger elementary children, the assistance league is working on a pilot program in partnership with Kohl’s to serve middle school-age kids, kids who would not want to be pulled from class and given a coat, for example, but still have need. This program will give those kids a $75 gift card and let them choose clothing on a specific shopping night. According to Fernanda Valentino, many of these kids are in need of appropriate gym shoes for example.

Valentino is the assistance league’s vice president of philanthropy. She oversees its five programs: Operation School Bell; Operation New Start, providing new kitchen equipment to those leaving homelessness and entering new living situations; Operation Early Reading, providing backpacks with books and crayons for early readers; Operation Scholarship Support, giving $1,000 scholarships for College of DuPage; and Operation Project Stepping Stone to help teen mothers.

The assistance league’s major fundraiser is the annual Books and Brunch in November, one of my favorites not just because it involves books and brunch but also boutique shopping and draws several hundred women (and a few men) from the area. For more information including membership information, visit www.alcw.org.

Family Shelter Service thanks Assistance League (video included)

Hi Heather,

                It was a pleasure to meet you on August 27 and to have the women of the Assistance League visit our shelter. I’m so proud of the partnership that together our organizations have forged and I hope you are too.  I have some follow up information for Assistance League and I’m hoping you would be willing to pass it along.  ☺

               

Dear Assistance League Members,

Thank you for your hard work and passion for helping our most vulnerable friends and neighbors. Specifically, thank you for your commitment to those who have been affected by domestic abuse and your desire to end violence in our community. As you may remember from me being on a ladder yesterday, we were having some audio visual difficulties. Fortunately, with the aid of newer (and better) technology, I can share our video electronically. When our clients recall the pain of living in an oppressive and abusive home, they remember wearing a mask to hide their pain. The video, “Behind the Mask,” helps explain how secrecy and silence are domestic violence’s best allies.

The work you do is truly remarkable. By finding the courage to talk about domestic violence in DuPage county, you are outing a heinous crime, reducing stigma for those affected, and ultimately making it easier for those suffering in silence to find help and hope. Thank you so very much. 

Best,

Amanda Wapiennik

Development Coordinator

Assistance League visits Family Shelter Service

Our first regular meeting of the fall season on August 27 was anything by regular. We convened at Family Shelter Service's "women's shelter" tucked away on a private street in Downers Grove. We felt privileged to receive the grand tour, as very few people or organizations are allowed behind the scenes. Photos were not allowed in the living areas, but we saw some smiling women and  children at play who looked relaxed and happy in this sunny and safe haven. Staff members gave us more information on the shelter and expressed their gratitude for the kitchens that are supplied to women in transition through our Operation New Start Program. 

One staff member said,

"The people we give kitchens to start crying. Most never had brand new things. It’s so important to have a fresh start. Everything is all ready to go -  they just take it with them and start their new life. It's so incredible to see. That’s the part you don’t get to experience but I do because of all your hard work.  It’s so amazing that you’re able to provide that new start for so many families."

We also heard a compelling talk by Judie Caribeaux, who has been Executive Director for 10 months. Her personal story is worth repeating. 

"I want to thank you for your support on a very personal level. It truly means so much to our clients. For the first time in many instances, they really know that someone else cares for them and it’s shocking. It still shocks me but it's really true. To understand that complete strangers want to form a network of support around women is absolutely mind blowing for a lot of our clients.  Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart I am truly grateful.

I have two children, a son 18 and a daughter 21.

I am married 13 years to a wonderful man. The math doesn’t make sense because 16 years ago I left an abusive marriage. I’m telling you that, not for pity, but to demonstrate that the image of victims of domestic violence don’t look like me. They don’t look like somebody middle class and highly educated.  I have two graduate degrees, middle income and lived in Naperville.

One in four women in DuPage County are victims of domestic violence- that equates to 120,000 women who could be our clients. We need to grow to meet that capacity.

Domestic violence is about power and control – very subtle and insidious. My husband was very charming to everyone else but the psychological web he would create at home was very complex and very cunning and all about maintaining control in the home. Psychological and emotional abuse - twisting words in ways that were very manipulative and controlling would absolve him of all of the responsibility and transfer all that to me.

My son was 2 and my daughter was 6 when I left. It was a difficult decision for me to come to because I put the entirety of our family above my own safety. It took me a long time to come to terms and understand that what I was experiencing was in fact an abusive relationship. Lethality increases by 70 percent as women try to leave the relationship. Ultimate control is to kill someone. But we can get control back if we start talking about it. I looked back at journals as a survivor, at the words of the victim. Before I filed for divorce, I would say my husband wouldn’t agree with me.  After I filed, I said I was afraid of my husband, How much I anguished over the impact this would have on my kids. Me breaking up the family. My choice to exit the relationship and what impact it would have on my children.

I do remember the first time leaving the marital home and going to an apartment and having two doors that locked between me and my abuser. The front door to the apartment complex and my apartment door. The first night in years I could sleep. That feeling safe for the first time - still I can feel that in this moment and this time. Being about to sleep knowing I was really truly safe, knowing my kids were safe.

In regards to the kitchen, I remember really working hard creating this little apartment into a home and it's those kinds of things. It’s the dishes. it’s the silverware. Being able to set the table and say prayers around the table as a family those were the rituals that really helped them heal that made the difference. We can’t have those rituals without the kitchen boxes. We can’t have the rituals without the place we’ve created as home. I can’t thank you enough for being part of our network. I was lucky. There are women who don’t have that kind of network until they come here.  Everybody in this room is part of that network so thank you very much for your time and support.

Operation School Bell kicks off in the heat of summer

Laila Alamuddin

Operation School Bell had an awesome packing party on Thursday, July 24th. 

Thanks to Judy Casten, Chris Hotchkin, Judy Iantosca, Mary Lou Fyrwald, Marie Raffl, Maria Garino, Mo Hegarty, Inga Haveric, Mary Ann Karis, Barb Keller and Diane Kurtz. All inventory received was packed in under three hours.

Way to go!

Laila Alamuddin 

Mo Hegarty and Diane Kurtz

Mary Lou Fyrwald and Judy Iantosca

Maria Garino, Inga Haveric, Barb Keller

Chris Hotchkin and Betty Cronin

Mary Ann Karris and Peg Raese

Operation Early Reading - Books in a Row Ready for Fall

Betty Cronin, Patricia Van Hoegarden, Eileen Hanley

Maddy LaRocco and Cathy Fisher

Operation Early Reading co-chairs Patricia Van Hoegarden and Eileen Hanley enlisted volunteers to sort and shelve hundreds of elementary level books on Thursday, July 10.
Many were bi-lingual, mostly Spanish but a handful of other languages as well.  The Operation Early Reading backpack program served 777 students during the 2013-14 school year.

Paula Whitelaw, Maddy LaRocco and Sue Farrell