GIVING BACK: Assistance League of San Antonio

Assistance League of San Antonio

Transforming Lives – Strengthening Community… This is what the Assistance League of San Antonio is all about. Every one of their key programs focuses on supporting education: helping improve school attendance and academic performance, empowering children to make good personal safety decisions, providing parents with developmental information for children birth through pre-school age, offering supplemental programs and materials to schools, and awarding scholarships to college students.

Operation School Bell®, its flagship program, provides kindergarten through 5th graders with new clothes. But, it’s more than just giving kids new clothes. It’s the impact of receiving new clothes that makes the difference by building confidence, encouraging school attendance and participation, and motivating young students to reach their full potential. Many of these kids come from families that cannot afford to buy school clothes or school supplies, which often keeps them from attending school. Statistics from the Annie E Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT initiative are staggering – 108,000 children in Bexar County live in poverty; that’s 1 in 5 children at or below the poverty level. To reach these children, Assistance League of San Antonio coordinates with Title 1 schools, local governmental agencies, and nongovernmental groups. The children come to the Assistance League of San Antonio Thrift House where member volunteers act as “personal shoppers” and assist the children in choosing three new outfits, including shoes.

Togs For Tots addresses clothing needs of infants through pre-school, including uniforms for Head Start and Pre-K students. Agency partners distribute the clothing to those in need. Included with the new clothes is a “Watch Me Grow From Head to Toe” developmental guide to educate young parents.

I’m In Charge, a program that is primarily delivered to kindergarteners through 5th graders at their schools, teaches personal safety – what to do when you’re alone, on the computer, being bullied, approached by strangers, or made to feel uncomfortable because of advances from an older kid or adult.

with Enhanced Learning, Assistance League of San Antonio purchases unbudgeted items for Title I schools, encouraging them to choose items that are STEM or STEAM related.

Scholarship Program awards scholarships to 3rd and 4th year college students who need that little extra boost to get them to the finish line and to Alamo Colleges District students who may just be continuing their college experience at a four year university. It also offers GED support to individuals in Bexar County’s Early Intervention Program.

Two other Assistance League of San Antonio programs address well-being. Adopt A Resident provides companionship to residents of a local Assisted Living Facility. Many of these residents have no family nearby or sadly have outlived their families. Birthday parties, games, and fellowship let them know there are those who still care. Working together with Ronald McDonald House, Fisher House, the Texas Burn Society, and several San Antonio cancer treatment centers, the CAPS program distributes hand decorated caps to children and adults receiving treatment for serious illnesses and blankets to patients undergoing cancer treatments.

Assistance League of San Antonio is an all volunteer, nonprofit organization that transforms lives and strengthens the San Antonio community through philanthropic programs.

To learn more, call (210) 732-1200 or visit assistanceleague.org