Rebelbooks raising stacks of supplies

August 31, 2009 by Tessie Perkins 

Local bookstore teams with organization to benefit students.

The popular textbook stop Rebelbooks is continuing its annual tradition of sponsoring events to help the community.

Students can choose to purchase any 99-cent item and the donation will be matched by Operation School Bell, a program of the Assistance League of Las Vegas, which provides students with new clothing, shoes and personal grooming products free of charge.

The organization encourages UNLV students to shop at the bookstore in order to collect as many classroom materials as possible and students are heeding the call.

“I went into the bookstore and saw they were doing Operation School Bell and it made me want to buy my books [there],” said Randal McClintock, a student and psychology major. “It makes me feel good knowing that I am helping to make someone else’s life a little bit better.”

Partnering with the bookstore was an idea brought on by the growing number of children in need of the services provided by organizations like the parent charity of Operation School Ball, called Assistance League.

“In the 2008-09 school year, we have seen more children come through the doors of Operation School Bell in desperate need of new clothing,” said Carolyn Glaser, president of the Assistance League Of Las Vegas. “We felt compelled to meet the needs of as many children as we could serve.”

According to Glaser, thousands of kids in Las Vegas alone do not attend school because they do not have the school supplies they need.

Glaser and the league attempt to combat this problem by soliciting individual contributions and donations from local businesses as well as partnerships like the one with Rebelbooks.

“In 2008-09, we provided clothing and other essentials to 6,858 school children, a 19 percent increase over the previous year,“ she said.

An $85 donation to the program gives each child a jacket, a new pair of shoes, five pairs of socks, five sets of underwear, three school pants or skirts, four polo shirts, a belt, one additional casual outfit, a grooming kit, a backpack, a toy, a dictionary, a book and any additional items that are allowed for by the budget.

Volunteers assist children in picking out all the items they receive.

During the 2006-2007 school year, Operation School Bell served 6,900 school children, with 11,000 books and 227,000 articles of clothing donated.

The Assistance League is a non-profit organization that helps children from kindergarten through the eighth grade.