That’s right, shopping can support children, domestic violence victims and senior citizens!

Have “no idea” what Assistance League is? It’s okay, Zach, Max, Steven and Brad of Western Washington University didn’t either…until one fateful day when they volunteered there to fulfill a class requirement and walked away with much more than class credit.

Assitance League is a national organization with a Bellingham branch run mostly by volunteers. Basically, they raise money, mostly through their Thrift & Gift Shop (1322 Cornwall Ave) for far-reaching programs: programs you know about, but didn’t know Assistance League was behind it all.

Have you ever heard of Operation School Bell (a program that buys clothes and shoes for elementary-aged children from families who have a low-income)? That is all Assistance League! The also provide scholarships for elementary students through their Enrichment Scholarship Program. And if that isn’t amazing enough, their Hospital Patient Support program provides clothing and hygiene products for people who go to the emergency room and have no family or friends who can bring them clean clothes. And…yes, I’m still going…they have a program called Shelter Outreach Service which helps women and children surviving domestic violence to obtain emergency clothing and hygiene products. And, one more local program, the Care Center Support program, gives gift cards to residents in assisted living facilities who do not have any visitors.

Whew!

The four boys from WWU joined several ladies in their 70s in helping in the Thrift & Gift Shop. They were in charge of changing out the inventory for the spring clothes, and they proceeded to sweat and lug clothes up and down stairs to do so (amongst trying a few colorful pieces on themselves). In these four hours of time they dedicated, they were thanked many times with the comments that it would have taken any of their volunteers about a week to do the same amount of work! And because of the relief to the volunteers, they were able to carry out other projects that have been blooming in their brains but haven’t had time to pursue.

The boys were so inspired by how much they helped and all the different programs that would benefit from their manual labor, that they continued their project, in their own free time, to create a WTA bus advertisement for Assistance League! So when you’re out there, riding the bus, look up and see the bright blue sign that was created with care by WWU Marketing students. The organization is extremely thankful, but I am also thankful to see young people in our community reaching out to organizations in such a powerful way! Thanks Zach, Max, Steven & Brad!