Assistance League of Diablo Valley's Operation School Bell Thanks Corporate Partner Target-Walnut Creek

Since 1994, Operation School Bell®, Assistance League’s® nationally acclaimed philanthropic program, has provided clothing and shoes to local elementary schoolchildren to improve attendance, campus citizenship and academic performance. In 2014-2015 alone, Assistance League of Diablo Valley’s Operation School Bell served 4249 elementary schoolchildren in our community.

In 2006, Assistance League of Diablo Valley forged a Corporate Partners endeavor, where employee volunteers from local businesses and corporations continue to be hands-on involved with and make financial contributions to several of the chapter’s ten philanthropic programs. Target has taken this a step further in that its employee volunteers implement its “Corporate Responsibility” on their personal time rather than on company time. Over the years, Target-Walnut Creek employee volunteers have visited Assistance League of Diablo Valley’s Annex to place I LOVE TO READ! stickers in books gifted by Target to R.E.A.D. (Read, Enrich, Achieve, Discover), a philanthropic program that staffs monthly reading sessions and provides books to local elementary schools and their libraries.

At 9:15 AM, on October 29, the energetic Target-Walnut Creek employee volunteers reported for yet another “Corporate Responsibility” opportunity by participating in an Operation School Bell bagging event. Working side by side with Operation School Bell member volunteers, they had placed six pairs of socks, six pairs of underwear, a shoe gift card, a sweatshirt, two pairs of pants for the boys or one pair of pants and one skort (upon request) for the girls, and three white, collared shirts—all into 225 large, reusable blue bags in a mere two hours’ time. These bags were then transported to Meadow Homes Elementary School in Concord. Together, Assistance League of Diablo Valley and Target improved, if not enhanced, lives in the community by putting “Caring and Commitment into Action.”

To learn about Assistance League of Diablo Valley’s ten philanthropic programs and the recently awarded GuideStar Exchange gold participation level status, please visit this website: diablovalley.assistanceleague.org or the GuideStar Exchange. You may also access information by clicking on Corporate Partners located on the upper left corner of the website