Assistance League gives Valley students back-to-school clothes
The Assistance League of Palm Springs Desert Area is using $95,000 in donations and grants to buy back-to-school clothes for kids in need across the Coachella Valley.
That amounts to about $45 per child, according to “Operation School Bell” Chair, Jill Beighley.
“Each student receives two pair of pants, or skorts or shorts, two polo shirts, socks, underwear, and a hoodie,” she explains, “but if they want shoes or something, we can do a substitution. We really want kids in clothes they like.”
More than 185 students shopped at Falla’s Clothing Store in Cathedral City for uniform choices Sunday, something most have never had the opportunity to do.
The organization is working with 22 elementary schools in the desert, but they want parents to know that this is not by request, and there is no application process.
School administrators tell AL which families are most deserving.
“Perhaps it’s a child living with a struggling parent, perhaps homeless, not a permanent place to live, it could be somebody that a teacher observes coming to school with ill-fitting clothes,” says Beighley.
She says students are equally as grateful as the parents, like Rancho Mirage Elementary School fourth grader, Juan Saucedo.
“I feel glad like, I’m prepared like, for the whole year!” he exclaimed.
Saucedo was shopping with his mom and two sisters. He spoke for his mother, saying she is really happy because his dad is out working really hard. “We appreciate that people let us buy free things for our uniforms; we just really appreciate it.”
Learn more about the Assistance League at www.AssistanceLeague.org
