Transforming Lives Strengthening Community | The Metropolitan Club
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Transforming Lives Strengthening Community

Many charitable organizations focus on one area of need but The Assistance League – formed in California in 1919 tackles many at once, very successfully. Operation School Bell is the one universal national program operating in all 120 regional locations. In 2018, in Atlanta alone, Operation School Bell distributed wardrobes through 235 elementary and middle schools to provide 14,707 students with every item needed for a full week of changes of brand new clothing, as well as contributions of hygiene kits, shoes, and a backpack! This work is replicated in all 120 chapters across America. All work is accomplished by volunteers, serving others, on the scale of a Federal Program! On an annual basis, these committed citizens from all the surrounding suburbs generate as much as 60 million dollars to invest in their individual regions. Add 3.5 million hours of volunteer service, worth another 50 to 70 million and it is easy to see their influence is far-reaching, and life-changing. Beyond the national program, members conduct a detailed ‘needs assessment’ in each of their own regions in order to develop responses to impact the problems they uncover. In Atlanta these programs, funded by a much-loved thrift shop in Norcross, called “Attic Treasures” include all of these: 

  • New Beginnings– help for 34,000 homeless and abused adults and children in the Atlanta area by radically expanding existing services.

  • Shepard Center Patient Support– provides specially designed clothing and durable medical devices for 280 severely injured plus patients annually. 

  • WEE Help– Delivers brand new complete infant layettes to mothers in need in co-operation with 10 area hospitals.

  • Waste Not– The distribution of suitable items in support of other non-profit organizations – like prom dresses to The Foster Care Support Foundation’s ‘Prom-a-Palooza’, in this case serving vulnerable high school juniors and seniors from all over the state. 

  • Links To Education– Provides scholarships to 7 Georgia colleges, Atlanta has generated and given away $800,000 in needs-based scholarships since 2003. 

  • Bears for Kids– provides huggable bears to kids in crisis through hospitals, police, and fire departments to comfort them in various traumatic circumstances.

The Atlanta members say they build lifetime friendships within the organization, sharing their remarkable achievements, as they might golf, or bridge. Why not make an impact? How about joining these folks and their 250 community partners? Instead of embracing your inhibitions – join retirees, working individuals, and couples alike, – dive into something new that really matters! Regardless of what your own personal skills or interests are this organization has a place for you – where your strengths will be valued and wisely utilized. 


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