Wells Fargo Returns to Assistance League of Diablo Valley

As seen in photo, Assistance League of Diablo Valley’s Corporate Partners Chair Linda Mercer (second left) welcomes (from l. to r.) Wells Fargo Bay Area Business Banking employees Carolina Alas-Hemphill (Team Leader), Nichole Talavera, Kristen Murphy, Justin Santiago, Eddy Pak, Patrick Tze, Brandy Leidgen, Cesar Yunsan, Annette Herrera and Stephany Jones to Operation School Bell – Clothing bagging event.

Assistance League^® of Diablo Valley’s Operation School Bell^® - Clothing is a nationally acclaimed philanthropic program that has served the local community since 1994. Last year alone, 6,000 students in grades K-12 received new clothes, all of which contributed to improved school attendance, campus citizenship and academic performance.

Since 2006, Assistance League of Diablo Valley has forged a Corporate Partners component, resulting in employee volunteers from local businesses and corporations becoming “hands-on” involved and contributing financially to several of its philanthropic programs.

On October 3, eleven Wells Fargo Bay Area Business Banking employee volunteers, some of them returnees, arrived at the Community Resource Center in Walnut Creek for a rigorous Operation School Bell - Clothing bagging event. Corporate Partners Committee Chairman Linda Mercer escorted them to the chapter’s Annex where they received “bagging training.” While there, Team Leader Carolina Alas-Hemphill, who also serves on Assistance League of Diablo Valley Advisory Council, presented a check in the amount of $721 to Operation School Bell - Clothing. The employee volunteers, themselves, had raised this money by selling tacos.

After receiving heartfelt thanks, these veteran bag stuffers placed six pairs of socks, six pairs of underwear, one sweatshirt, two pairs of pants for boys or one pair of pants and one skort (upon request) for the girls, and three white, collared shirts into 197 reusable bags in a mere two hours! The bagged items were then transported to Mt. Diablo Unified School District’s Rio Vista Elementary School in Bay Point (GO, ROCKETS!) for distribution to eager and appreciative schoolchildren.

When two community-minded organizations pool their resources in support of our most treasured asset, our youth, everyone in the community wins! Yes, indeed, “Together, we’ll go far!”

To learn more about Assistance League of Diablo Valley’s nine philanthropic programs, all primarily funded by Assistance League Way Side Inn Thrift Shop located in Lafayette, please visit this website: diablovalley.assistanceleague.org. You may also access information regarding Corporate Partners by clicking on the button located on the upper left corner of the screen.