Child clothing program finds itself in need

Events center is displacing volunteer group

By Theresa Goffredo

Herald Writer

EVERETT — There’s the story of the two brothers who took turns going to school because they didn’t have enough clothes for both to go on the same day.

Then there’s the little boy who didn’t own any underwear.

Or the kid who couldn’t believe he was getting his own toothbrush. Now he wouldn’t have to share one with his siblings.

These disadvantaged children are just four of the more than 38,142 Snohomish County students Operation School Bell has helped clothe since 1965. Operation School Bell chairwoman Joanne Gunderson said the program allows children "to feel good about themselves while serving a great need."

But today, Operation School Bell, which provides free clothing to children who need it, is in jeopardy and threatened with closure because of the events center proposed in downtown Everett.

Volunteers who run the School Bell program vow to keep it going even if it has to operate out of someone’s home, though they acknowledge such a drastic change won’t be easy to handle.

"We don’t want to lose membership or the camaraderie or what the program does for the community," said Sally Joy, public relations chairwoman. "School Bell will be alive and well somewhere for a year, even if it’s in somebody’s house."

Operation School Bell is one of several programs sponsored by the philanthropic all-volunteer organization Assistance League. The league has run the program for 36 years. Twenty-five of those have been at a storefront at 1916 Hewitt Ave., where the league has operated a thrift store, the group’s ongoing fund-raiser.

But that will change in February.

By that time, construction is expected to have begun on the proposed $50 million hockey arena and events center. The arena is to be built at Hewitt Avenue and Broadway and will seat 8,000 for hockey and 10,000 for concerts.

Although the arena project isn’t completely finalized, Assistance League members have sold their building to the city for $865,000 because it’s on the event center site. The members believe they got a fair price for the 8,400-square-foot building, and though there was the initial shock of having to move, that didn’t compare with the jolt members had after discovering they couldn’t find another building to move into.

Biting the bullet, members realized they’d have to build a storefront. They have put earnest money on some property, but members say there’s no way they’ll have a new building before February.

League members realized they would have to lease a space in the meantime. That’s when they got an even bigger surprise.

"To lease property is horrendously expensive," said Margaret Lund, the league’s expansion committee chairwoman.

Rents ranged from $8,000 to $15,000 a month, Lund said.

"This whole thing was a major change. A major shock to us," Lund said. "And we cannot afford that. We absolutely cannot do that."

City leaders are well aware of the league’s plight, the members say, and have helped them try to find a temporary place to lease. But so far, nothing has turned up.

So league members are asking the community for help. They need at a minimum a building that’s at least 3,500 square feet, close to a bus line and with enough parking for 15 vehicles.

And the rent has to be reasonable.

Operation School Bell volunteers and school district officials who have worked with the league are hoping a temporary spot can be found, but expressed worries about the program’s future.

School Bell volunteer Michele Stowell has for years driven van-loads of students from Mountain Way Elementary School in Granite Falls to get clothes at the league’s Everett storefront on Hewitt. Stowell believes there’s an empty building out there that can fill the league’s needs.

"We tend to do a lot of eradicating of programs that are doing good, and then there’s nothing there to replace them," said Stowell, a former teacher. "Why does that happen? How do we take out things of value and not replace them?"

Granite Falls School District spokeswoman Kathy Grant is asking a similar question.

"We have depended and utilized that service for years," Grant said. "All the school districts would have to sit down and say, ‘How are we going to do this, to fill that gap?’ And it would be a gap."

You can call Herald Writer Theresa Goffredo at 425-339-3097

or send e-mail to goffredo@heraldnet.com.