Assistance League of Austin, a chapter of National Assistance League, has been serving the Austin area since 1973.  We are grateful for the support of the Austin community for all those years!  We are a non-profit organization with no paid staff.   Assistance League of Austin's success is based on over 350 dedicated volunteers giving more than 53,300 hours of their time in 2006-2007, representing an estimated dollar value of $975,390 -- gifts of service to Austin.

We are serving the community with numerous philanthropic programs.  All of our programs are "hands on," and members must participate directly.  We don't just give money--but give of ourselves.  We encourage all the children and seniors that we serve through one-on-one contact.  We were named Outstanding Philanthropic Organization of 2007 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals for our dedication to the Austin community.  Following is an update on these programs:

OPERATION SCHOOL BELL^®

Since 1984, ALA has provided school clothes for over 41,000 at risk students in the Austin area.  During the 2006-2007 school year, 3,368 students were served from 104 schools and 3 shelters in the Austin Independent School District.  Each child was given a week's wardrobe of new clothing.  The total expenditure for this program last year was $273,393.

We are currently involved in a Capital Campaign to expand our Operation School Bell program.  In order to serve more children, we needed to move to a larger facility.  We purchased a new building in 2004 to house our Chapter House, Thrift Store, and future Operation School Bell.  In the Spring of 2006, through the renovation of a 4,000 square foot space with all volunteer help, School Bell moved into their new home.  This has been a twenty year dream come true for ALA to have everything under one roof.  We opened our new facility on August 1, 2006, clothing children from several shelters so they would feel good about their appearance and be confident on the first day of school.

Our Mission and Vision statements for the Capital Campaign are:

MISSION:  ALA will provide a school wardrobe for each child in need.
VISION:  No child in Austin will miss school due to a lack of clothing.

We are very pleased with our new building!  Not only does it provide more space for School Bell, but additional space for all of our other programs.  ALA has committed that we will not grow our programs until we have reached our goal and closed out the Capital Campaign.  Our Thrift House has had a banner year generating more income from this larger space and better location with ample parking.  We still need to raise funds for the rest of the building costs.  We are in the fourth year of our funding and have met over 2/3 of our goal.  If you would like to help with our Capital Campaign, please email us to learn more.

BUS WITH US

Our volunteers took over 530 senior citizens on boat and bus trips last year.  Not many groups serve senior citizens--therefore, this is a treasure for us.  We are the only Assistance League in the nation that has this program!

OCCUPATIONAL/TECHNICAL SCHOLARSHIPS

Scholarships from ALA's endowment to Austin Community College were provided to two recipients.  Both of our students graduated with a 3.0 GPA or higher.  Our mentors encourage each student.  The Silverton Foundation has awarded a grant of $25,000 per year for two years.  We have an agreement with ACC for ALA-Silverton Scholars scholarships.

TOY CART AT DELL CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER

Our volunteers at Dell Children's Medical Center provide a toy and book to young patients.  Over 12,950 children were served last year at Austin Children's Hospital, and we look forward to our new home at Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas.

ASSAULT SURVIVOR KITS^®

Our Professional members assemble and deliver to St. David's Hospital the Assault Survivor Kits which provide necessary items of clothing, hygiene kits, and a book entitled Recovering From Rape through their Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program.  We served 175 survivors last year.

PREPARATION FOR ADULT LIVING

This program is headed by the Junior membership to provide a graduation celebration for foster youths graduating from high school.  Each honoree receives a "life kit" of household items to help them transition into living independently.  This year in May we celebrated with 11 foster youths at Dave and Buster's, who helped underwrite some of our costs.  Eighteen additional kits were delivered to area foster teens.

FUNDING for all these wonderful programs is furnished by money raised from our THRIFT HOUSE located at 4901 Burnet Road.  We appreciate donations of items to sell.  ALA volunteers receive and process donations on Monday and Tuesday.  The store is open to the public on Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Come visit our store and see our neat and clean "Upscale Retail" operation.

Thanks for visiting our website.

Sincerely,
Sherry Ellis, President 2007-2008