Transforming Lives •

Strengthening Community

www.alslocounty.org

Winter 2025

Holiday Extravaganza Success!

The Thrift Store Sets Records…

This year’s Extravaganza was the biggest and best one yet! Our amazing community of donors, as well as our tireless team of 100 volunteers, ensured a beautiful transformation of our store into a holiday wonderland.

Shoppers were greeted with a store stocked with fully decorated Christmas trees (for sale), seasonal decorations, party clothes, fine jewelry, winter wear and so much more!

We kicked off this 7th annual event with a line of shoppers at the door, eagerly waiting to experience this one-of-a-kind shopping experience, and we closed out the day restocking our shelves and tallying up a record $28,000 in total sales!

We cannot thank our patrons enough, nor can we begin to express gratitude for those who donated their beautiful treasures to this annual fundraiser.

Member volunteer elves prep for the Extravaganza.

Save the Dates!

We’re excited to share that our Thrift Store is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this April with a week full of special sales and activities! Along with financial donations from our generous supporters, the Thrift Store is our largest revenue source for our Operation School Bell® and ACE Scholarship programs. Stay tuned for more information about these “Diamond Anniversary” activities, which kick off April 15!

One easy way to learn more is to follow our socials. Just scan the QR Code here to access our Instagram and Facebook accounts for our Chapter and our Thrift Store. 

Operation School Bell Clothes 2,117 Students in San Luis Obispo County

This past fall season, our Assistance League Chapter clothed 2,117 students throughout San Luis Obispo County. Our sincere appreciation goes out to our retail partners, Old Navy in South County and Kohl’s in North County. 

Students in need are referred by their school contacts. K-5 students receive $150 in new school clothing, and 6-12 grade students receive $200 in new school clothing. When the students check out at the end of their clothing session. they also receive a tote bag of school supplies, a dental hygiene kit and a new book of their choice. 

We were also fortunate to collaborate with the Paso Robles Rotary in November, and their donation of $6,000 enabled our program, Operation School Bell, to clothe an additional 24 students from Lewis Flamson Middle School and Paso Robles High School. Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa donated $1,400 in Kohl’s cash from their child spree clothing day in December.

During our clothing sessions in North County at Kohl’s, we earned Kohl’s cash and rewards from our student clothes spending. During our in-person clothing sessions, we could spend this cash on individual students.

After our clothing season ended in November, the remaining Kohl’s cash rewards from our sessions and the Kohl’s cash from Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa was used to buy jackets, sweatshirts, sweatpants, leggings and socks. These items have been distributed to eight schools for their clothes' closets, and some of the outerwear was given to county social agencies. This extra clothing will help many more students in need, even though we do not see them in person.

Operation School Bell had a great 2024 fall season, thanks to our community volunteers, member volunteers and our retail partners in North and South counties.

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