This is a very special day for me.
It was a year ago that Paul and I, our director,
came to Universal
to see something called Operation School Bell.
I had no idea what we were going to see.
And as we stood there watching, I was amazed.
I'd never seen something like this.
I saw what Operation School Bell was about.
I saw 200 or more children in line,
getting shoes fitted by policemen,
and I saw smiles on their faces.
And then they went into the school bus
and came out with new pants,
new skirts, new shirts, a backpack.
It was just an amazing sight to me,
and my reaction was to cry.
I was so happy that tears were running down my face,
and I thought, "I have to be a part of this"
and Paul said, "I have to film this!"
We had done four episodes before
that were all about helping people,
but this was something extraordinary,
this was children.
Of course they help more than children,
because Operation School Bell is only
one of their many programs.
And here we are, a year later, what an exciting year it's been
since that first day, when we knew nothing
about Operation School Bell.
To tell a really great story,
you have to go back to the beginning,
the origins, to fully understand.
Any great character for a book, protagonist in a film,
or superhero within a comic,
will have a really dynamic origin story.
The Assistance League is no exception.
Susan Glassell Patton came to Los Angeles
from Virginia in 1866,
as a widow with four children.
Her husband, George S. Patton,
had died in the Civil War,
at the Third Battle of Winchester.
Susan left Virginia to come live with her brother,
Andrew Glassell, a prominent lawyer in Los Angeles.
In 1870, Susan married Colonel George H. Smith,
a lawyer, practicing in partnership with her brother
under the firm name of Glassell, Chapman & Smith.
Susan and George would have two children together.
Anne Ophelia Smith was born on February 25th of 1871,
in Los Angeles, California.
Their other child, a son, Eldridge Hugh,
died as a young boy.
Anne was educated at home until age 13,
when death struck the family again with Susan's passing.
Shortly after her mother's death,
Anne was sent to Virginia,
to live with her parents' family.
Anne would not return to Los Angeles
until she was 18 years old.
A year after returning, in 1890, Anne married Hancock Banning,
son of Los Angeles pioneer, Phineas Banning.
Anne Ophelia Smith, now Mrs. Hancock Banning,
was a truly unique woman with a different perspective,
certainly different from her young peers.
Maybe this was because of Anne's childhood,
half brothers and sisters,
and a mother who had a previous life and a husband,
were certainly not the norm of the day.
While Anne was born and initially raised in Los Angeles,
far from the devastation of Civil War battles,
her family, southerners,
many who fought for the Confederate Army,
were less removed.
The horrors of war replayed, the memories of loss
told over and over again.
For a southern family, even one living in Los Angeles,
these atrocities would've been a normal
and regular topic around the house as Anne played.
While luckier than most, it's also not completely
accurate to say that Anne had an easy or normal childhood.
Certainly, witnessing both your brother and mother's death
before you were 13 years old,
and then been shipped across country, away from everything
and everyone you knew,
would've had a dramatic impact on you.
What Anne couldn't have possibly known, now newly married,
was exactly how dramatic of an impact these previous events
would have on her, her life's work,
and the world at large.
There are many charities out there,
why did you pick this one?
Um, I think because at the time I joined,
I had a child in kindergarten
and another one in preschool,
and the appeal to me was the importance
of having nice clothes to go to school,
or enough clothes, shoes--
And I realized that, um,
this was a charity that was providing that
to a lot of children that didn't have
what my children had.
And it was just very personal at the time,
thinking of children starting school,
because I had a child starting school,
and she had shoes and uniforms to wear.
I've been a member since 19-1995, so, 23 years now,
and, um... I learned about Operation School Bell
through, um, my school,
where my kids were, and at that point in time,
School Bell was doing used clothing drops.
My name is Joanne McDonald and I'm president
of Assistance League of Long Beach.
Behind me, you will see some silver and gold
framed pictures,
each picture represents a president,
there should be 77 of them.
Um, we are in our 78th year now.
You will also notice that my picture
has not gone up on the wall, I have to prove myself
for a whole year before they will put me up
in the gallery.
This particular chapter is about 42 years old.
Um, it started in 1976,
they had an organizational meeting
and that first year, you know, took a little while to get--
to get everything, um, chartered,
but, uh, our thrift shop, I believe when they--
was started, um,
you named your thrift shop, I think now it's pretty much
standard that it become Assistance League
of Las Vegas Thrift Shop, or things like that,
wherever your chapter's located, but at the time it was called
Just a Second Boutique,
and so, when they would answer the phone,
they would say "Just a Second"
and then the other end would kind of "uh..."
and wait, wait for somebody to come back.
That's-- that's very cute.
A lot of people come because of what we do,
how we help children, and then that certainly keeps them here,
but then they make friends here as well, and so then they keep
playing a little bit more and more each-- each year.
So you are a family.
- Yes. - In a way, big family.
Oh, definitely, definitely.
My name is Lisa Wierwille and I'm the current board president
of the Assistance League of Los Angeles.
In the short six years that I've been involved,
it's really captured my heart.
I became interested in it years ago with my daughter.
And so, we came in through the Assisteens program,
I had also been a member of the Anne Banning Auxiliary,
which does Operation School Bell.
My name is Wendy Silver,
I've been with the Assistance League and Prom co-chair
for eight years.
My co-chair Linda and I joined,
we went to the first meeting,
they needed somebody to buy large size dresses,
and we said "Oh, we'll do it!"
and we found a great resource, and the next year,
they turned the project over to us.
I also help dress the kids
as part of the regular Assistance League.
Operation School Bell itself is a little over 50 years old,
actually it's coming up on 52 years old,
and it-- you know,
it started as a small program to help
local school children get to school,
and provide them with clothing and supplies.
Then, it too continued to grow based on the sincere
efforts and hard work, dedication
of the members of Assistance League.
We, here in Los Angeles, I think the first year that we had
the Operation School Bell program,
it served around 350 children,
358 children, something like that.
And then, this past year, we served over 6,200,
6,200 some-odd children.
So, it just continues to grow as we are able, as an organization,
to raise more funds to be able to provide, you know, more clothing,
more supplies, more opportunities, uh, you know,
in the school district,
to deliver Operation School Bell.
So it's pretty amazing.
Those of you who lived through the more recent change of the century,
from the late 1990s into the 2000s, can relate.
For the people living in Los Angeles in the 1890s,
this weren't just the final years of another century,
they were witnessing, first-hand, the future.
Technology, modernization, and social change
were all bringing new wonders to life.
Unfortunately, they were not the only things evolving.
War, poverty and ignorance
would all take part in the next century too.
Whatever the reason, Anne always had an affinity
for others who were less fortunate.
Whether friend or complete stranger,
she believed in helping.
Newly married, Anne's 20s were to be a time
for her to settle into married life and motherhood,
but as has been said before, Anne was different.
The 1890s would, for Anne, be the true beginnings,
the fruition of her beliefs put to action.
Anne was the member of a small group of Los Angeles
society women who named themselves Assistance League,
and did local charitable work in an unofficial way.
This was not quite the Assistance League
as it exists today,
but illustrates Anne's efforts and her focus
from the beginning.
As early as 1894, multiple articles can be found
across various newspapers mentioning
the Assistance League and Mrs. Hancock Banning.
No mention of Anne, though,
ironically, that would only come later.
Hi, Abby, how old are you?
I'm 12 years old.
Twelve, oh, my goodness! What do you think of this?
I think this is amazing.
It's-I feel like I wake up in the morning and I'm so glad
to have a roof over my head and food,
and when I see just the joy on kids' faces,
and after getting a backpack,
and they're getting clothes, and food, and then they get to go
to the parks, I mean, that's amazing,
like, this is an experience that they'll hold close
to their heart for the rest of their lives.
I think it's so inspirational and I love it so much.
Operation School Bell is the key signature program
that is across the United States
provided at every single Assistance League chapter.
How they provide it and what they do,
depends on their local membership,
depends on the needs of that community,
so it may change or vary from place to place.
I believe we're the only ones that has an extensive
Operation School Bell on wheels,
with our fabulous tractor-trailer,
that is state of the art,
to provide the service at the schools.
Um, but in any event, whatever they have, they try to really
make sure that the children who need clothing,
who need school supplies, who need the hygiene products,
whatever it is that they need,
that they're able to provide them with those items.
You're a volunteer.
I am a volunteer.
I've been with Assistance League since 2014, so about five years.
How many children do you actually see in a year?
We usually dress about 8,000 a year.
I know, I know.
And not necessarily all of them come here,
because if they're kindergarteners,
they cannot come on a bus, so we do bags as well.
- Yes, yes. - So the schools will bring the paperwork and we--
- Fill the bag. - Fill a bag for them.
Operation School Bell is a nationwide program
and we dress kids.
Some of them take them to the schools in trailers,
'cause they have uniforms.
And years ago, we dressed them on our-- our property,
but we just couldn't do that,
and now we partnered with Target,
and we're able to do,
I think Laura said she wants to do 3,600 kids this year.
- That's awesome. Yes! - Amazing, huh? Amazing.
This organization is hands-on, actually helping children
who are very small, to big, and how do they do that?
They do that by showing them that somebody cares about them.
What's up, man? How are you doing?
Hey, how are you?
- Good. - You're good.
He's gonna get you some shoes.
Yeah, I've been doing this for two years.
Before I became a police officer,
I actually used to sell men's shoes.
- Oh, really? - Willet's department store.
- Center of the city. - So you know what you're doing.
Yes, so this is kind of like going back.
So, I enjoy it and just seeing the look on the kid's face
when they get to have some new shoes,
- I mean, it warms your heart. - It does.
A lot of times in police work, we don't always get to see
a good ending, but here, it's going to be a good ending.
- Absolutely. - Because you see them when they walk in,
and the excitement before,
and now you see it, you know, once they leave, so it's great--
Do they-you think they know that you're a police officer?
We have our shirts and I'm wearing my hat,
but, you know, I want to show them a different side of law enforcement, cops.
I think it's so important that they know that you are.
Yeah, because we, you know, our-
- That you're good guys. - We call us cops,
but we're public servants,
you know, public safety, and that's what we're here for.
You know, when they put on the shoes, they look down,
maybe they listen more in class,
maybe they start doing their school work now,
because we don't know how it affects them,
when you can go and get some new shoes,
now you've come to school happy
and not worried about being embarrassed.
These kids, this is our future.
They're going to grow up one day,
and we want them to come back and pour it back into this program.
Of course.
So we want them to come back and remember
"Hey, somebody fitted me with shoes one day,
and now I want to do the same for somebody else."
I grew up, uh, we weren't exactly-we weren't poor, you know.
my parents, like I mentioned before, were teachers,
but the times that you got, uh, a pair of brand new shoes
were counted, with one hand, throughout the year.
And just being able to give- I mean, just being here,
and see these kids get a pair of shoes, it's great.
That looks so good.
Here, let me see your backpack for a minute.
How do you feel?
Stand up and see how it feels.
Good, stand up and see if it feels all right.
- Does that feel all right? - Yes.
Sure it does. Oh, that's so nice.
I was-grew up poor, just like a lot of these kids did,
so, that's the other thing I was thinking like, man,
I wish when I was growing up I would've had a program like this
that would've got me some shoes, and clothes and everything else.
Okay, go ahead and stand up and let's see how we're doing here.
- Oh, yeah. You've got plenty of room... - Does that feel good?
All right, you want to wear those or your old ones?
If that's okay, these ones.
Do you want to leave those on?
Okay, cool, so I'm going to give you a bag to put your old shoes in...
When you see those children come in on the bus,
and a lot of these children are coming from broken-up homes-
Foster homes.
Foster homes. I don't know if they live in their car,
and when they are so happy to get a new pair of shoes-
See? I'll start crying. They're so grateful.
It's like I want to go home and slap my own kids.
No! I'm just kidding!
But I'm just like-
I know, but I understand that.
I have to keep doing this, as long as I can.
- Yes. - As long as I can.
It warms your heart.
And I saw the Operation School Bell
and all the new clothes in there, like the-whoa!
It's like Target! This is amazing!
Well, we had a little boy today who came through here,
and in our backpacks we give them a dictionary
and a kit that has, uh, shampoo, and a brush, and a toothbrush,
and toothpaste, and he was saying to me "Well, what is all that?"
and I told him and he says "Oh, wow, I have a toothbrush!
Because I can't brush my teeth in the morning,
I don't have a toothbrush, now I can."
They're the stories that grab your heart.
Um, and we're in the trailer
and, um, there's a little girl who is, um,
she's-she was one of the younger ones,
actually, she was blind.
So, she'd come in with her-her caretaker and, um...
so, we took her some panties,
and she took the panties and held it up to her heart,
and said "I've never had panties of my own."
Okay, and it was heartbreaking, it was heartbreaking.
But it was wonderful.
I had a little girl who was about 12, came in in flip-flops,
and, um, you know, we were getting her clothes
and her shoes, and then she says, um, you know,
"I lost my shoes,
somebody stole them when we were living in the car."
It's-I mean, there's a million stories.
They're little boys, they were brothers,
they walked ten blocks to school every day,
but they only had two outfits.
So that day they got lots of things, we made sure.
There was a young boy at Operation School Bell on wheels
a couple weeks-actually, a couple of months ago now,
uh, and he was brought in all alone by one counselor.
And as she was signing him in, I could feel like he was just
so nervous and looking around and so, so scared,
and she said "You're okay, just-- just wait right there,
I'm just going to check you in" and I went up to him
and I tried to engage him, and it was almost impossible
for him to speak to me, he was so-like beside himself nervous.
And his-- he had a sweatshirt on,
and literally, he was in tatters.
I mean, this sweatshirt was completely, like, ragged
and torn and filthy, you know.
And I just asked, you know, one of the women,
one of our volunteers, 'cause I had to leave,
I couldn't stay that day, but I said,
"Watch that young man, and let me know how he does at the end."
And this is the young man who didn't want to take
his shoes off, because he didn't want anyone to see his feet.
How did he do?
He did great!
Was he happy?
He was happy.
He must've been.
Yeah.
So, you know, you can't-- that's priceless, right?
Oh, I'm getting emotional.
You know, but it's amazing, you know, how to help one child
feel good about himself, how to help one child
feel hopeful, you know, that they can fit in,
they have a future, they can get along with other kids, you know.
I mean, it's so-- priceless as they say, you know. It really is.
I've met women very much like myself,
who want to do something for kids,
who care about these kids' future,
and who've been doing it for years and years.
I'm a newbie.
I've just found them, I had never heard
of the Assistance League.
I didn't know what Operation School Bell was.
And I daresay that most people don't.
- Hi! - Hi!
I'm so glad to, uh, meet you and talk to you in person,
on Skype this morning.
How are you?
Great, and you?
Fine, Melany.
I read an article about you and, um, I was very impressed.
I was especially interested in the fact that people can work
as hard as you do and still have trouble making ends meet.
But you know, when you've got to do what you've got to do,
you make everything work for your kids, though.
With an attitude like that you succeed.
Yes, exactly.
And, uh, I'm glad that in some way, the Assistance League
and School Bell can be of some sort of help to you.
They've been amazing.
Have you used them before?
I have. I've, uh-- I've actually had to use them for all three
of my kids throughout the years.
Um, there's been good years that I haven't had to use them,
but on the more financially struggling years,
that's when we've had to rely on them a little more. But yeah.
And I'm working every day that I possibly can.
How many hours?
Over 40.
What kind of assistance do you need and are getting?
Um, right now, we are on Medicaid, um,
and we get, uh, food stamps, and then we get assistance
with the Assistance League of Boise,
um, at the beginning of each year for-- um, when we need it.
It's pretty huge when, you know, you can't afford to make that big purchase,
uh, for school clothes at the beginning of the year.
The kids, um, get on the bus and they-- they take the bus
to the Assistance League of Boise here,
and, um, they let the kids, uh, play and everything.
And they-- last time they had a, um, science guy there
who was doing a whole bunch of experiments,
while the other kids were picking out their clothes and such.
And it was just a lot of fun.
They probably loved that, it was really a special day, right?
They really did!
At 5:12 a.m.
on Wednesday April 18th, 1906, lives in California
would be forever changed.
Unbeknownst to Anne, at that exact moment,
her life would also be changed forever.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake
struck the coast of northern California
with an estimated magnitude of between 7.7 and 7.9.
Striking early in the morning, the great quake of 1906
left more than 80% of the city damaged
from the quake itself and from the fires that followed.
The earthquake was felt from southern Oregon
to south of Los Angeles
and inland, as far as central Nevada,
an area of approximately of 200,000 square miles.
The earthquake produced insured losses of 235 million dollars
in 1906, which is equivalent to over 4.9 billion dollars today.
Current estimates put the total death toll
at over 3,000 with the ensuing fires.
The majority of these fatalities occurred
in San Francisco proper.
Up until this event, Anne's life had been largely
preoccupied with that of being the traditional wife,
mother and supportive social hostess
for her successful husband and his business.
Reading about the terrible aftermath
of the San Francisco earthquake and fire, though,
something would forever change in Anne.
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of this devastated city,
Anne would be changed and become something far greater.
She would bring her friends, the elite society women,
Hollywood people and others, many women who still
didn't have the right to vote, to action.
Anne would set into motion actions, ideas,
concepts and tools, that changed lives in the immediate,
but also for generations to come, including today.
Creative, intelligent, empathetic,
and unencumbered by tradition, Anne would immediately recruit
her well-connected friends to raise money to aid
those who were underserved by conventional charities.
Good afternoon.
Anne's Assistance League would respond
to the San Francisco earthquake and fire
by collecting money and sewing clothes
for survivors of the tragedy.
While adults were certainly helped, even in 1906,
much of the focus for the Assistance League,
and for Anne, would be on helping children.
This would be true for her entire life.
Who-- who knows what they'd like to be when they grow up? What do you want to be?
Police.
A policeman, like these great guys here.
- What would you like to be? - Soccer player.
What? A soccer player?
I bet you'd be a good soccer player.
You play now?
Yeah, that's a great game.
Are you all in the same-- What grade are you in?
- Second. - Second.
- What grade? - Third?
- No, he's not in third.
No! He's teasing me! He said he was in the third grade.
Um, help other people.
Grow up helping other people.
What are you going to be when you grow up?
What do you like? What's your favorite thing in school?
What's your favorite subject?
- Math. - Math?
Good for you!
- What would you like to be? - I love to double time...
I want to be an animator.
An animator! Oh, I bet you draw good.
- Say hi to Alex. - Hi, Alex.
Where's your guys' badges? You didn't get them yet?
- No. - No?
Oh, man, I've got to get you a badge.
You guys are my partners today.
Are you going to get badges?
Gonna fight crime, yay.
Wow!
Wow.
- Thank you. - There you go.
All right, guys, so we're going to get you some new shoes today, okay?
Some new socks and some other stuff.
So do me a favor, take your shoes off, and your socks,
and you're going to put your socks in here, okay?
I'll hold on to your backpacks.
You guys got any food in here for me? Because I'm hungry.
- No? Nothing? No snacks in your pockets? - Oh!
- Nothing like that? - No, I forgot to get those snacks.
Oh, man.
What would you want to be when you grow up?
I would like to be a teacher,
because my favorite teacher inspired me.
Really? What did she do that was so inspiring?
Um, she, like, if we needed help she'd go like "Don't give up!
You can do this! Don't give up!"
And that was-- that's what inspired me.
I think that's the best thing you can learn,
not to give up.
- Yeah. - And sometimes we succeed,
and sometimes we fail,
but if we fail, what do we do? We pick ourselves up.
We learn from our mistakes.
The people who are afraid to make mistakes
never learn anything.
Oh!
Look, I almost matched the ones that you have on.
- Pretty close, huh? - Yeah.
That's pretty, that's very pretty.
Jonathan, what do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be-- I want to join the military.
- Really? - Yes.
Why do you want to do that?
Um, to save lives.
That's great.
You know what branch, Jonathan?
No, not yet.
I've got two girls, my two oldest daughters,
they're in the Navy right now.
- They are? - Really?
- Both of them. - You're not that old!
I'm old.
You have kids in the Navy?
I have a 20 and a 19-year-old in the Navy right now.
That's fantastic.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Be a policeman.
A policeman! Here, you've got a buddy.
You want to be a cop? Oh, man!
Yeah! Look at that.
LAPD, brother, all right.
We want you to come work with us.
What do you want to be?
- Police. - What?
- Police. - He wants to be a police too.
- Oh, wow! - Future cops!
- We've got future policemen here. - Yes, yes.
I feel so protected.
What is that?
It's a badge.
Why are you wearing it?
Because I want to be an officer when I grow up.
That's a great thing to want to be.
Why do you want to be a police officer?
So I can help other people.
- Right, like-- - Like me!
Like this beautiful lady? Yes?
I can be teammates with her.
- You can be... - Teammates.
Teammates. So he can be teammates.
Teammates! Oh! That's-- that's wonderful!
Is it fun to get a whole lot of stuff?
Yeah.
Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be a doctor.
Oh, I hope you do. We need more doctors, that would be amazing.
Do you want to take care of children or grownups?
- Both. - Both.
She has big dreams, I love that.
The important thing is to work and make good grades.
Maybe you will. That would be something else.
How could you not want to see these children thrive
rather than just survive.
These are tomorrow's teachers, these are tomorrow's principals,
tomorrow's firemen, tomorrow's policemen,
mayors and governors, and maybe, one of them will be president.
These are children who need our help.
And hopefully, from giving that help,
they'll see that somebody cares about them.
Operation School Bell does more than dress children,
they actually give children books.
And what's more important than giving them that start,
a book that will carry them into a new place,
a new land, um, they'll meet new people within that book.
And hopefully, encourage them to read more and more books.
It's so important that we break the chain of poverty,
and the way to do that is through education.
And Operation School Bell seems to understand that.
Here's a bird.
Look, everybody eating.
And everybody eating yummy fruit.
Let me see.
And bananas, and yummy blueberry,
and eating delicious-- and cherry and-- wah-- and strawberry...
Oh, that's a lot of-- Man, how many pages is that?
That's a lot of pages in that book, dude.
I bet you read every page.
Dance of Ghosts.
Which one-- what book did you get?
Oh, man, I'd be up late night reading that.
- Me too! - I wouldn't even watch TV.
What do you got?
Oh!
The Shore Road Mystery. Ooh, I bet that's a good one.
That's the Hardy Boys.
I read every single book, up to-- I think it was 56,
but that's the last one I stopped at.
So, uh, great books.
This is what I read that inspired me
to become a police officer, because these are detectives.
Have you ever read these books before?
Have you ever read that?
Hardy Boys, make sure you guys look through this...
Look through that too.
...and it goes all the way up--
Hey, James!
Hardy Boy mysteries.
Oh, is that right?
Yeah, man! I read every single one of those.
So I don't know if they kept going after 56, I read them all.
So, good luck to you guys, man.
Nothing to me could be more important than kids being read to.
Read to.
And learning to read, because if they can't read--
- No. Right. - If one out of four children in this country
is illiterate and can't read, that child is lost, isn't...?
And for many of their parents, their literacy is very minimal.
- Yes. - And I'll tell you a personal story.
My father had a second grade education,
and growing up, I always wondered if my dad could read.
And it wasn't until I was an adult that I actually
had the courage to ask him, "Hey, can you read?"
- And could he read? - And he could read,
but, you know, he could read very little.
But enough to get by.
- But did he-- - And enough to become a United States citizen too.
Oh, that's beautiful. That wasn't easy.
No, it wasn't.
No, but-- and-- but reading must've been very important
to him because, look at you, you're the principal of a school!
I am, I am.
I get-- I get to-- I get to lead these kids,
what a great job, right?
An-- Absolutely.
We encourage reading to no end here,
so we're always telling kids, "Read, read, read,"
sometimes they don't have access to the books at home,
so, to have their own book,
they're excited to be able to pick a book
and to be able to have a choice,
to say "This is the book I choose."
You know, we host book fairs and things like that
all the time, but this is a different thing.
They get to pick a book that they can have,
they-- it's free, you know, and they take it home and they--
You know, a lot of them read them right away.
Some of them sit on the bench and start reading right away,
because they're so excited about it.
In April of 1917,
11 years after the San Francisco quake,
America entered the war in Europe,
what would be the First World War.
The war had been raging since the summer of 1914.
America's entrance was not the beginning
of Anne's activism however.
That had already begun long before.
Anne hosted various fundraisers and lectures,
before America officially entered the war.
These events would benefit the Red Cross,
by providing relief to war-torn European countries,
first in the form of doctors, nurses and medical supplies,
and later, with hospital garments, surgical bandages,
and refugee clothing, sent to sister Red Cross societies
and produced by women like Anne.
By the end of the war, nearly one third
of all Americans had donated in support at the Red Cross effort,
or were serving as volunteers.
This isn't all that Anne did, though.
She also helped form and organize
the Los Angeles Red Cross Unit in February of 1917,
a few months before America even officially entered the war.
Anne also served as its director.
On many occasions, she traveled as a representative
of the Los Angeles Red Cross Unit,
bringing her unique energy
and fundraising ideas to others.
On October 2nd of 1917, the fundraising unit
of the Red Cross would really kick into high gear
and begin a model created by Anne and documented
with her hand-written notes that is still being used
by the Red Cross and other organizations today.
Anne's idea was to open a charity shop
as a fundraising tool.
People, many wealthy society women and friends of Anne,
would donate items that would then be sold in the shop.
Many items would be priced lower than market value,
so as to guarantee that they sell quickly and easily.
All the proceeds from these sales would then go
directly to the Red Cross.
Anne's ingenious idea would be realized with the very first
Red Cross shop, opening in Los Angeles,
at the Canfield House, located at 803, South Alvarado Street.
This "shop with a soul," as Anne liked to call it,
easily raised over $132,000
before it had even been open for one year.
That's nearly three million dollars by today's standards.
Charity thrift shops are common
and exist throughout the world now,
helping to support a plethora of causes.
In 1917, however, there was only the one on Alvarado Street.
Imagine what a unique and innovative idea
this concept was at the time.
This alone would warrant a special distinction,
any normal person would have been satisfied
by this accomplishment and rested on their laurels.
Anne was not normal, though, and she was hardly done innovating.
Tell me, how long have you been with the Assistance League?
- Ten years. - Really?
- Yes. - And have you always worked in the thrift shop?
- Always, always. - Really?
Absolutely, I love-- We basically do about
- $10,000 a week, in the thrift shop. - I beg your pardon?
- About $10,000 a week in our thrift shop. -
Yeah. Everything's donated, so, pure gravy!
That is fantastic! And this property is owned by the Assistance League.
- Yes, it is, yes, it is. - Pure gravy.
All the money goes into our philanthropic programs,
to clothe school children.
- Yes. - Yes, our OSB.
Called Operation School Bell.
Mm-hmm. We are blessed.
We are blessed with so many donations.
We have a mountain of donations in the back room.
And if it doesn't fit up to our thrift shop standards,
we don't really get rid of it.
Um, what we do is, some of the things will go downtown
to the homeless people, others will go to homeless teenagers,
soiled bedding, sheets, will go to the SPCA for the animals.
So, you know, we really don't like to throw anything away.
I love your attitude.
I love the fact that you want to come here three times a week.
I do.
I'd come five times a week, but, you know, I have a husband.
- So, you know. - And they take a lot of work.
It's so much fun. It's fun!
- You're fun. - That's the thing, I enjoy it.
- Yeah. Thanks. - And you show that.
And that's what I get from everybody I talk to.
I don't want to sound like Pollyanna, but it's such a great group...
- It really is. - Such a wonderful organization.
- It really is. - And what you do with Operation School Bell
just makes my heart sing!
- Doesn't it? Doesn't it? - Yes!
Absolutely. You'll have to come back and shop.
I'm not leaving here until I look around.
- Cool. We like it. - I'm telling you.
This is me 30 years ago.
- Really? - Yeah.
- This is me. - Tell me about you 30 years ago.
Same story as many of these kids.
Uh, single-family home, father out of the home,
uh, there's six kids, mom worked three jobs.
Oh, my God.
And, uh, same thing, I used to come to school
with holes in my shoes, you know.
And it was quite embarrassing. They didn't-- I didn't get new shoes,
I didn't know about this program.
And, uh, this is wonderful, to see this.
It's-- it's wonderful to see this
and it's wonderful to be a part of.
You know, I remember going to school
and just being embarrassed, other kids would make fun of me.
- They did? - Yeah, and it hurt, you know.
But you kind of just keep it in, and you kind of just move along.
Make the best of what you had.
And your brothers and sisters?
Yeah, so I had, uh, four sisters and one brother, all immigrants.
I was actually the first one born in this country
- from my whole family. - Where is your family from?
Uh, my family is all from Mexico.
- I'm first-generation too. - There you go.
I understand that.
So, I love-- I love these kind of events.
I'm just, uh, very fortunate that I got to come
and participate today.
You're a great role model for them.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
And I can understand how putting a pair of shoes
on these kids really brings you home.
Oh, yeah.
I'm Salvadorian, Central America.
Are you, uh-- you were brought over as a child?
- As a teenager. - As a teenager?
How was your English when you came here? -
Uh, I knew how to say hello.
And I had a good support system, because,
uh, my sisters were already here, so they spoke English.
They taught me how to say, "I don't speak English."
And I learned how to say that very well,
so people would look at me with a straight face,
"What do you mean you don't speak English? You said that right!"
We have a lot of wonderful role models here.
The police are terrific, they're great partners for us.
- They love what they're doing. - Oh, they do. You can tell.
- Yeah. - That they talk to every child,
and there's a really wonderful interaction, it's great.
Well, because it's-- they know how the outcome of the day would be.
- Yes, they do, yeah. - They know--
- They can see it with every smiley face... - That's right, that's right.
...that they're doing something very positive
- and nobody's going to get hurt. - Yeah, that's right.
Anyway, so it brings a tear to my eye, I can't even talk about it
without my eyes watering, sorry.
- No, I understand. - But we love what we do.
You know, it's so nice that the kids can feel like they fit in.
Helps with bullying and makes them feel good.
They're happy to come to school.
And we're hoping it improves their attendance...
- Of course. - ...which is our mission, you know,
- to keep them in school for success. - Of course it does.
In October of 1918, Anne had decided to resign
all of her positions at the Red Cross and the Red Cross Shop.
At their annual meeting, she was quoted as saying,
"I feel assured that the good work
will grow in scope and beneficence,
since so many able hands will guide it
in its every department."
The papers of the time reported that the reason
for her resignation was to take a well-deserved vacation.
But it's truer to say that Anne had outgrown
what she had started and wanted to move to other things.
The First World War would also end in November of 1918,
so priorities were beginning to shift.
A resignation, for most people, would signal a desire
to do less and have less responsibilities.
For Anne, the exact opposite was true.
Anne would continue her normal fundraising,
throwing parties, benefit dinners,
hosting lectures, but also began implementing
new ideas she had drummed up.
In May of 1918, the Los Angeles Times announced that...
"Society Women and Movie Folk
Back New Venture!"
The headline continued.
"Exclusive Homes Place at Directors' Disposal.
Fees from Film Use Will Go to Worthy Charities.
A coterie of the society elect has formed
the Assistance League of Southern California.
The incentive for the undertaking
was a desire to raise money for the benefit
of the sick and crippled, and for the tubercular.
It is not a new charity, but charity on a New Plan."
Anne was mentioned in the article.
"Mrs. Hancock Banning, whose work as an organizer for the Red Cross
became known throughout the country during the war,
is the founder and president of the League,
and has surrounded herself with a group of women who proved their ability
and capacity for doing good in a big way during the war."
The fundraising concept was simple but brilliant.
As described in the 1920 article...
"Through the League, film corporations
will secure locations hitherto barred for films.
Owners who firmly refuse the use of their properties
will now realize the good they can do
by permitting their premises to be used for pictures.
Men handing some deserving charity,
but also assisting one of the largest
of our industries-- the film corporations."
The idea didn't just work for Southern California either.
On May 1st, 1921, the New York Herald had an article
which talked about a new fundraising technique
that had begun in New York.
"Men and women who have made society
in New York will not only offer their services
as movie actors, but will turn their homes,
their country estates, and their yachts into stages for film scenes.
Organizers of the Film Service Mutual Benefit Bureau
give credit to Mrs. Hancock Banning of Los Angeles.
She has been raising $10,000 a month for California charities
by persuading the owners of beautiful estates to permit
the use of the homes for scenario purposes.
Ultimately, Anne's idea of getting Hollywood
involved in giving back had many different applications and uses.
From acting as producers and reaping the financial benefits,
to acting as film's location scout and taking a cut,
to even creating useful resources,
particularly to mothers with young children,
reviewing and recommending films,
a sort of early Motion Picture Association of America rating system.
Anne even realized home movies, far before Super 8s,
camcorders, or VHS existed.
The Los Angeles Times reported in June of 1922...
"The principal aim of the Film Benefit Bureau
is to preserve personal pictures.
Not for the benefit of the public,
but for the joy of future generations and private families,
operated in the interest of charity.
Anne saw unlimited potential and possibility.
And she acted upon that over and over again.
When I was a little girl, my mother was always
volunteering to help in the neighborhood.
We lived with our back door open,
and people came to the back door
who were hungry and who offered to do work.
And my mother always fed those people.
She showed me that reaching out to help somebody
makes you feel better than if you were being helped.
My parents, by the way, were immigrants.
I happen to be first-generation in this country.
And being first-generation, I understand what it means
to grow up in a land that's free.
She made a beautiful life, and I just want to pass that on.
I was, uh, born and raised in Southern California,
I grew up in Huntington Beach.
Put into foster care, I was supposed to be living
with my dad, but I was living with my mom,
and she has a bunch of different type of mental disorders and brain injuries.
And then drugs came into play, which everyone shames people
for like the drug use and everything,
but it's a normal thing when you do have
mental disorders going on.
And then I got put into foster care on November 19th.
And then, November 23rd, my dad passed away the day that we had court.
So I was left with only one parent after that,
and I tried to reunify with my mom,
but we weren't really getting along.
And so I just went back to live with foster care.
That didn't work out, so I just decided to emancipate.
But I always sort of knew that I would get emancipated,
I knew what it was since I was nine years old.
My very first job, I was working at Curves
in Huntington Beach, it's the women's gym.
But I met a lot of great ladies at Curves,
and a lot of them volunteered with the Huntington Beach Assistance League.
And a lot of those ladies were there for me
when I got emancipated.
They would ask me, "Oh, how's it going?
How's the process going?
Have you found a place to live yet?
Do you have a car? How's school going?"
So we were-- they were very involved in my life.
And even that meant a lot, you know?
Because there are these people who barely even know me,
they want to know if they can help.
And so, after I got emancipated,
there was a lady named Alma Valdés
that, um, she was one of my favorites.
I love her to this day.
And she volunteers with the Assistance League of Huntington Beach.
She introduced me to Operation School Bell
and told me that they had Target Night.
When I'm supporting myself at 16,
it's difficult to determine,
"Oh, should I go buy some socks?
Or should I buy food?" You know?
So, I went to Target Night
and I got my little cell phone calculator out
and everything that I put in the cart,
I put in the calculator.
And I stayed there probably for the entire time
that they had for Target Night, just adding things up,
taking things out of the cart, putting things in, adding it up,
and I came within, like, 48 cents of the total.
And the ladies there were like, "Wow."
- That's very impressive. - "You really did a good job."
And I was like "I need this, this is important to me.
So, I'm trying to get as much as I can get."
Seems to me the Assistance League
became your family.
They cared about you.
I've met so many ladies, I've met their husbands,
they threw a birthday party for me once, a graduation party.
They've just helped me out more than anyone ever has, really.
- They were family. - They're family, yeah.
I go to lunch with them,
I catch up with them over the phone,
it's just-- I don't know what I would do without them,
because it really does make you feel like you belong somewhere.
Even though I'm 20 and most of these women are retired,
I just love being around them, because it's just genuine love.
No matter what you're going through,
no matter what's going on at home,
you can get there, because I'm living proof of that,
because all the statistics show that I should be addicted to drugs,
I should be homeless, I should be jobless,
I should be a dropout, but if you're determined
to get what you want in life,
there's nothing that can stop you.
And just because you grew up in a bad environment
does not mean that you cannot succeed.
I do want to volunteer with kids in some way,
because I want them to know that there are people that are there for them.
- I'm Ann. - Hi, Ann, I'm Kai Tramiel.
Tell me your job.
I am the director of membership and community outreach.
We're a 100-year-old organization,
and we have a long legacy, so my job is to make sure
that our legacy continues with new members.
I'm a new member.
- You're a new member? - I am.
- Really? Yay! - Yes.
How exciting! And I didn't even have to do anything, just showed up.
But my other job is community outreach.
So working with corporate groups, or community groups
who also want to be engaged and be of service.
So my role is to find the right fit for them
in the organization, to come and be a part of what we do.
Give me an example.
So for example, we have a group of, um,
sororities at Cal State University LA,
who want to come and be of service.
And so, it's an amazing group of young ladies.
They're going to help, um, provide donations
for our prom day that's happening in March.
And they're going to also be of services on prom day,
so they're going to help dress our prom girls.
You really do something wonderful
and I think it gives you a lot of satisfaction.
You have a partner.
Yes, Wendy Silver is my co-chair.
I call us the Yin and the Yang
because we always tease each other.
She's so amazing with, you know,
keeping us organized in letters and this and that.
And I'm the big mouth of the group, so I can ask for anything,
and we need to ask for many things, so...
What are some of the things you've asked for?
A funny story, we were in JCPenney's, uh,
someone had given us gift cards as a donation
to buy dresses, etcetera.
And I heard the general manager was--
bigwig was coming in that day and touring.
And I grabbed him in the middle of his tour
and I said, "Excuse me!"
Um, and I told him what we did,
I said, "We dress homeless girls for prom."
It came right out of my mouth, and before you know it,
I had half the store around us, and helping us check out,
and discounting, and giving us coupons, and whatever.
In any store I'll just mention it
and I'll say as I'm checking out, "Oh, these are for--
we dress homeless girls for prom."
And you'll be amazed what you get out of it.
I don't think that there's anybody else that does prom like we do.
And so we've got two days and we serve about 200 girls,
and put smiles on everybody's faces each year.
It started 12 years ago,
and I believe our member Marion Plato started.
She had a connection with someone who had shoes.
We had a member who manufactured dresses.
And I think it took off from there.
Eight years ago, they were dressing 35 girls,
we now dress 200 girls.
- 200 girls-- - And we say dress.
They're not going to their prom that day,
this is in advance of their prom,
and we outfit them with all that they need to look fabulous.
We have seamstresses who, on the spot, can alter the dresses
for them, and they leave with-- with a great dress.
The makeup portion of our event,
we do get volunteers that are professional makeup artists.
And it's just to demonstrate makeup, while these girls
are waiting to go through what we called our prom boutique.
And we get many, many donations, and for all skin tones,
which is important.
Um, we have a lot of diversity, which we love
and we want at prom, and this way we take care of everybody.
We receive used, worn, and new shoes.
And when-- of course, when we buy shoes.
Thank you. I think these are great.
They're beautiful!
- They're beautiful shoes, yes. - Good taste, girls.
I want to look at some of these dresses.
Let's hold them up.
Here, Ann, that's a good one for you.
I love this.
Oh, my.
- Oh, we can all take one. - Yes, yes, yes!
Oh, these are beautiful.
- Aren't they? - Wow!
- Here we go. - How about this?
Wow, and there you go! Here we are.
We're ready-- we're ready for prom.
This woman contacted us,
she wanted to take on the prom project collection at her school.
And I had never met her before, and she did a great collection,
I think she had people who were involved
in the fashion industry.
And came with a van filled with about ten girls,
who had been instrumental
in the collection and all of the merchandise,
brand-new shoes, beautiful dresses, jewelry, makeup.
And the girls got to personally deliver it to us,
which was wonderful for them.
And they got to see what we do here.
Because, you know, even though prom is our main focus,
it's not the main focus of the League.
And we got to tell them about it,
and also tell them about the Assisteens.
Once again, this event is-- it's not shallow, you know?
It's not about a dress.
Right, it's not just about the stuff.
- It's about so much more. - Uh-huh. Yeah.
And it's just such a great lesson for them.
I feel it really is a great model for them to look at
and say, "I remember, when I was in high school,
and these nice people, look what they did."
How's it going?
Good! How are you?
- Not too bad. - Good.
I'm glad to get the opportunity to talk to you.
Thank you for participating. Tell us your name.
Uh, my name's Ryan Broyles.
So, Ryan, nice to meet you. Are you married?
I am married.
I've been married for six years now,
um, to my high school sweetheart.
Oh, me too.
Oh, there you go. So that's promising for me, then.
But I've been married a really long time.
We won't go into that. How many children do you have?
I have one little boy, he's three and a half,
his name's Sebastian.
Did you need the Assistance League
when you were growing up?
I definitely did.
You know, my parents, um, they didn't come from much.
Obviously, when they raise four kids, it's never easy,
um, I'm sure they were making minimum wage at the time
when were in grade school
and it wasn't easy for them.
So, we definitely needed Assistance League,
so, we needed summer programs,
we needed just about every hand we could have.
I mean, my parents did a good job of being humble enough
to accept those things and, you know, we've all grown up
and we're trying to make the best of what we had to begin with.
Two times a year, um, our principal or secretary
would approach a select few kids
and say, "Hey, it's our day to go to School Bell,"
and I always looked forward to it,
my siblings looked forward to it,
we knew we were going to get a winter jacket,
we were going to get some books,
we were going to get some school supplies, some new shoes.
Um, so at that time, you know, it was-- I didn't really think
it was help for my parents,
I thought it was like a little shopping spree for myself,
but obviously as I got a little bit older,
I started to realize, you know,
the community did a good job to help parents out that needed it.
I grew up my whole life playing football or sports in general.
Um, I got a scholarship to Oklahoma University
for football out of high school, played there for four years.
Then I got drafted by the Detroit Lions,
uh, played there for four years.
Then retired,
um, and so, now that actually set me up
for what I'm doing now in real estate.
Oh, wow!
That's so impressive.
You know, we get pinned-- uh, I guess athletes,
football players, and we're just "dumb," quote unquote, I guess, but...
And I don't buy that whole thing about "dumb football players,"
- because... - Yeah.
...I know what it's like to be called a dumb blonde, and I'm not.
There's a lot of bright guys in those locker rooms
and I feel like I'm one of them.
I strive every day to continue to learn.
Obviously the NFL was a blessing for me and my family,
and a lot of connections there, and now we're off and running.
I actually started a foundation that's not active anymore,
back in 2012, when I was in the NFL,
and I got the opportunity of, um,
donating to our local School Bell.
Me and my family, we are always about giving back.
Might not be through a charity or a foundation,
we do it, um, just individually now.
So we're always going to give back, I just heard a story
the other day about some high school kid,
he might be in 11th grade now,
I went and talked to his school about ten years ago
when he was in elementary, and a good friend of mine
was his teacher, and he happened out of nowhere
to say, "Hey, Ryan Broyles inspired me.
He came to talk to us and I want to be like him someday."
And so, that just reminds me, you know, I've got to continue
to do these things and I want to give back
to the kid that could potentially become who I am today.
Um, so, Operation School Bell
was definitely a big part of my life.
Benefit performances of plays,
celebrity-attended charity events,
motion picture location bureaus,
pay-to-attend parties, shawl dinners, tea events,
contests and competitions, garden parties,
public and private film screenings,
even Robin Hood tournaments
hosted by Douglas Fairbanks, who was currently
filming Robin Hood, all in the name of charity.
The newspapers of the day, again and again,
would write the words...
"In the interest of charity,
the plan having been suggested by Mrs. Banning."
It was especially Anne's completely new
and original idea in fundraising of paying to attend
that was an instant success and would eventually go on
to become a model for all future charities and non-profits.
In 1925, still not satisfied,
Anne and the Assistance League would realize
one of their biggest and truly unique ambitions.
The Assistance League would open a day nursery.
Women, mostly those who worked as extras
and in other positions within Hollywood,
could, for between 10 and 25 cents a day,
leave their children to be looked after.
The Assistance League saw a new and growing need
in Hollywood, and they seized upon it.
Not only did they provide these mothers,
many who would not have had another option,
with a safe place for their children to be looked after as they worked.
But they created a business model,
like the thrift shop, that would allow the League
to collect money to reinvest in other programs.
The day nursery would grow and ultimately evolve,
but is always focused on creating a safe
and educational environment for the children it serves.
By May of 1926, the Assistance League
had involvement in a plethora of annual
and daily programs and fundraising.
An article in theLos Angeles Times described the work...
"Besides the day nursery, the Assistance League
operates a thrift shop, women's exchange,
social service department,
film location bureau, and several other departments,
forming a well-rounded program of charity and welfare work."
In 1932, the Los Angeles Times reported that...
"Mrs. Hancock Banning is now managing an organization
that handles more than $200,000 a year."
That's almost $5 million
in today's dollar.
Even First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt took notice.
In May of 1941, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt herself
wrote an article titled...
"My Day."
And shared details about her visit to LA.
"From there, we visited the Assistance League,
a really remarkable organization,
which is sponsored by a number of Los Angeles women.
I gathered that Mrs. Hancock Banning
is the most active and moving force."
Eleanor Roosevelt went on to talk about the day nursery and thrift shop.
Even the First Lady of the United States
realized the value of what the Assistance League was doing,
and who the central force behind it was.
In May of 1936, Anne and the Assistance League
would take the first steps into expanding their efforts
on a national level,
by giving the first charter of the Assistance League.
The Los Angeles Times reported that...
"The first steps were taken yesterday
by the Assistance League of Los Angeles...
Mrs. Hancock Banning presented a charter
to a probationary organization in San Pedro.
San Pedro Junior Welfare Society became the first associate chapter
of the group of women."
In just over ten years,
there would be charters in Orange County,
Glendale, Long Beach,
Pasadena, Pomona Valley, and Santa Monica
in addition to San Pedro
and the original Hollywood mother chapter.
These would be the first of what has grown
into a 120 Assistance League chapters today.
Back when I was young, when I had--
my teeth were crooked, I wouldn't smile.
And if I smiled, I would kind of cover my mouth like that.
I remember one-- one situation where I was in summer camp.
You know how in summer camp they have, uh,
you know, pictures of what happened during the camp,
and there's a big, you know, everyone has popcorn,
and watching all the activities that we did.
I so badly wanted to be in there,
so people could see my face having fun,
but the one shot they had of me was-- it was this angle.
I was laughing-- I was laughing, I was having a good time,
but it was my teeth blown up 30 feet by 30 feet.
And everyone was laughing,
and no one thought it was a big deal,
because everyone knows who I am
and what my teeth looked like.
But for me, I was so embarrassed.
Usually at 12 years old, all your adult teeth
should come in, and my canines were really crooked.
My canines were out here, my laterals were in here,
and my front tooth-- so it was kind of severe crowding.
So, I would go to my dentist every six months
and I would ask him, you know, "Can I get braces?"
Because I knew at that time, I had Denti-Cal,
so they work on a point system,
where if your teeth are very severe,
that they'll cover it, you know.
But at that time, my teeth were moderate,
so I didn't have enough points to get braces through Denti-Cal.
When I was about 16, the dentist said, "You know what?
You don't have enough points, and it doesn't really change that much over the years.
Let me refer you to an orthodontist
that might be able to help you."
So, that's all he said.
We got the number to Dr. Nelson Gatov in Long Beach,
he was associated with the Assistance League of Long Beach.
And when I went there for an exam,
he chose me as a patient to help.
I'm in the Assistance League of Long Beach,
talking to Zelda Rice.
- This program is 50 years old. - It would be 50 years old.
We started just as a program
where we contracted with some local orthodontists,
and we sent patients there and we paid for that.
And then, eventually, we'd have our own center.
When I worked in private practice,
um, you know, unfortunately,
it's just part of, you know, the healthcare system,
everything is just very profit driven.
Yes.
And there's, you know, especially in specialty in--
like, in Southern California with ortho, you know,
it's very cosmetic,
um, everything is driven by money and by numbers.
And there's very little consideration often given to the needs of the patient.
And what's great about working here
is that I can 100% focus on the needs of the patient.
Uh, number two, you know, the kids that we treat here
are kids that if we didn't treat them,
honestly, nobody would.
We've been around long enough as an organization
that we're now treating kids that had kids.
I don't think anyone ever imagined that, you know,
almost 50 years later, we'd have our own clinic.
Because I come here every day as full-time employee,
I have to remind myself often
that most of the ladies that I see all day are not paid,
they get here because they love what they're doing.
It was my third year, is when I took off my braces,
um, and, you know, at that time, I was a premed student,
it was the first time I saw my teeth straight,
I was so happy, I biked all the way back home to my apartment.
And I did research on, you know, how can I be an orthodontist,
what do I need to do, so I completely did a 180,
I didn't want to do medicine anymore.
For me, medicine would've been wonderful,
but there was no passion behind it, I would say.
So I just switched to orthodontics.
Every time I finish braces,
complete treatment on one of my patients, I see how happy they are.
Right when I graduated orthodontics school,
I wanted to tell Dr. Gatov right away.
So I called--
He was that doctor that fixed your teeth.
He started the whole process.
And if it wasn't for him, I don't know what I would be doing.
He was really happy about me reaching out to him.
So we had-- we met up, we had lunch,
and we went to the Assistance League,
at the new-- at the new location.
He showed me, gave me a tour,
he showed me the new orthodontic clinic.
And I was just like-- for me, it was a really sweet, magical moment for me,
because he made a big difference in my life.
And I know I was just a patient to him,
and he probably had thousands of patients that he helped,
but when I look at him, he's my hero.
He was able to take me on, help me,
and just kind of catapulted me into, you know,
eventually dentistry, being an orthodontist.
And now you're a-- you have children,
you fix their teeth and you are their hero.
Yeah, I have a lot of patients here,
and I love just interacting with patients
and helping them, and, you know,
because I remember how it helped me.
And kids that don't have enough points,
I usually try to make the payment plan affordable as possible.
I-- sometimes I stretch it out-- even though a treatment time
could be 18 months, I could stretch it out to 30 months
and try to make it work for them as much as possible.
And I tell them too, that I had Denti-Cal too.
"My parents couldn't afford it, let's see what I can do for you."
Assistance League, Dr. Gatov,
just everyone has helped.
I always think about that.
My full name is Melissa Marie Culver,
I go by Missy because of my family.
And you are in what city?
Las Vegas, Nevada.
So you've been helped by the Las Vegas Assistance League.
- Yes. - I understand you contacted Anne Asks.
I've seen that you guys are doing a documentary
for Operation School Bell,
and I was involved with that with my son.
When were you involved with the--
Uh, just October.
And your son, he could use some clothing?
Yes, at the time, very much so.
We were homeless, um, we still currently are,
but we have a home to live in right now,
um, with some friends.
And at the time, it really helped us a lot,
um, because it took a big toll off of me.
How old is your son?
He's 11 years old.
- I see. - Yes.
And can you tell me what happened
in your case that made you homeless?
Me and my husband separated,
I lost my mom four years prior to that, um, of cancer,
I lost my job.
Um, and once that happened, I just-- I felt lost,
I didn't have anybody in Vegas.
And so, uh, five years ago now, I lost my twin brother.
And basically just all of that,
making the wrong decisions in my life,
and running to alcohol.
Like I basically was going to take my life.
But then I thought about my kids, and I thought about--
"It's not worth it, life's too short already,
you need to pull out of this and get yourself together."
And that's what I did.
Are those the reasons you started drinking?
Um, more so my brother.
Just, um-- I'm going to cry, I'm sorry.
Um, the cutting point is where
I never thought my brother would leave me on this earth without him.
You know, I lost my brother too, so, I have never gotten over it.
That's my twin.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- No, but yours was a twin. - It was very bad.
Twin, yes.
That's really losing a part of yourself.
Yeah, very much.
- I'm so sorry. - Yeah. Thank you, thank you.
And now, are things turning around?
Totally.
I ran back to God, I'm sorry, I have.
And, um, I just know that's not what my mom and my brother want.
- So... - No, it's not.
It's not what your children want either.
Yes, of course.
And I think my son being there with me,
at the time when we've been to Shade Tree and, you know,
different, um, shelters in Vegas and him being there
with me has really pulled me out of it, like tremendously.
- Really? - Yeah.
I think, um, him staying with me throughout this process,
um, it was kind of a learning experience, but also,
I didn't really want him to see that side of, you know, of life.
But it came down to that he did
and I just think we're so much more humble
and, you know, just trying to get back up,
when you ask God to take it all from you,
I mean, it's in an instant.
But when you get back up, and you're doing it by yourself,
oh, it makes it so much more rewarding.
Now that you've got all this behind you.
- Yes. - And a lot in front of you...
Thank God I'm sober now, though.
I'm very proud of you. How long have you been sober?
A year and eight months.
- Congratulations. - Thank you.
The bad choices that I've made,
and, um, the holes that I always say I've dug for myself,
um, coming out of that by myself,
and like totally stopping everything
and realizing there's more to life
than just that life, you know?
I'm going so much further now.
It's taken-- It's going to take me a lot longer,
but I'm going to get there.
How did your son respond
to getting these clothing for school?
Oh, God, he loved-- yeah.
He's-- His, uh, personality went up so much,
knowing that he had a new pair of shoes,
and he just love shoes, so he's like, "Yeah, Mom!"
And there was, um, holes in his socks a little bit,
and, there was in his, you know, underwears and stuff,
so he was really happy to get that.
Because, you know, it just makes you feel better
whenever you have new items, you know?
I love it! That's the way I felt, exactly.
Yes.
I'm going to volunteer here also.
That-- that's wonderful!
I have to give back somewhere, you know?
If somebody's helping me, I have-- it has to come full circle at all times.
We have people who have been helped when they were kids,
- who are helping... - Yes.
...as adults.
Yes, yeah. And I think that that's what everybody should do,
is like if you've been helped, for the people who want help
and need the help, I think that we should be giving back.
What is your definition of succeeding?
I don't need a whole plate of food,
I just need half that plate, please.
That's all, you know?
I don't want millions, I just want to make it, that's all.
And I want my kids to be like that.
I want them to help people along the way.
Well, you're setting a good example, that's for sure.
Thank you, Ms. Ann, thank you so much.
Jonathan, I've looked forward to meeting you
for such a long time.
Ever since Paul found you, tell me all about yourself.
So, when I was little, we moved to Las Vegas, right?
And we had been here a few years, and it was just my mom and I.
My mom got laid off, and so we ended up having
to move to the Shade Tree homeless shelter.
And while I was at the homeless shelter,
um, my counselor had been constantly checking up on me,
seeing how I'm doing, what's going on, you know?
Because it's a little bit of a stressful environment in there.
And, uh, he said there was this program called
Operation School Bell, and that they'll take me
to a place and get me some clean clothes, fresh shoes.
My morale was lifted, if that makes sense.
Of course it does.
How did you get started giving back to Operation School Bell?
So, definitely through Starbucks.
I did lots of work with children, you know?
But not School Bell.
And there was another store manager
who had been setting up School Bell events.
And I went to one and we started just doing that
and I started to go to School Bell events more and more.
I had already been volunteering like for a year,
and then one day I was finally like, "You know,
I actually went to School Bell," and they were like, "What?"
Like just, totally, everyone was like,
"You came to School Bell as a kid?"
I was like, "Yeah," you know?
"And that's why I really like to come back
and like give back to the people who gave to me."
The first child that I got to help, his name was Tyler.
He's probably like yea tall.
Um, but we were going through, and you could tell
it was his first experience ever
getting to like choose his own clothing.
And as we were going through, and we got to the fitting rooms,
and he was trying on the clothes, it was really obvious
like he was wearing his dad's pants,
and he was probably like, I don't know, very small,
and you could've wrapped the pants around him like three times.
But you could tell for him, because we were going through
and he was getting to choose things,
he kept saying things like, "This is mine?
Like just for me?"
And so, I just remember leaving that day feeling
like that's what this is all about,
we get to make the difference for a child that,
um, is less fortunate than myself.
So, I'm John.
Nice to meet you, John.
Hi. What was your name?
- Mathew. - Mathew?
William. And Oko?
Awesome, awesome, yeah.
I came here as a kid, and I actually did full circle
and I come back and volunteer my time,
I'm here at least once a month, you know,
to help out as much as I possibly can.
Because I really like being here, so.
I think it's pretty great.
I hope that when you grow up and you get older,
you'll come back and help too.
- Actually, it is nice, that would keep you really warm. - That's nice.
Yeah.
This is interesting.
This is my mother Sandy.
- Hi, Sandy! - Hello.
Uh, it's a pleasure to have you here.
Today was your first day...
At Operation School Bell, yeah.
And how was that? I watched--
It was amazing. It was amazing.
You were amazing! You would've thought you have been doing it for years.
You fit right in and you--
I just knew what it meant to him,
so I took that as what it could mean to these children.
You just did great, you really did.
How did you-- Did you feel good about it?
Oh, absolutely! And you know what?
Especially, what was his name? Mathew?
- Mathew. - Holy moly!
Do you know-- Did you see the change in him?
Because he was so shy in the beginning,
and by the end, when he--
He took my hand by the end.
Oh, I missed that.
I was so thrilled!
Oh, I missed that.
I can't tell you, he was just a different person.
He really was.
To be here together, actually is more emotional
than I would have thought it to...
you know, it is.
To give back to something that helped bring hope
to us in a dark time.
And maybe doing that for someone else, you know?
Some other child might go home tonight
and bring to their mother what he brought to me.
And he'll-- Mathew will remember you.
You know, they will remember you.
I know they go away,
and you're all tied up in that story for them.
Are you going to continue to come here?
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. It gave me hope.
- Yeah. - You know?
Yes.
So, the next program that I'm going to show you is Kids On The Block.
Okay.
My goodness!
Oh, are these wonderful!
So this is our Kids On The Block program.
And this is actually a national program
that started in Washington D.C.
by a teacher, uh, many years ago,
that she created a puppet and a script,
because they were mainstreaming children with disabilities
into the schools.
And this is the first puppet that was created,
this is Mark Riley, and he's got cerebral palsy.
And when she created the program,
Mark became such a hit
that she actually turned it into a business.
The puppets that you see here all belong to a certain script,
we have different scripts, and our two most popular
are about bullying and alternatives to violence.
So this is Valerie.
Hi, Valerie.
And you can see that she's got braces on her legs.
- Oh, my. - But you can put your hand in here.
That's...
- And then... - Oh, I see.
You could actually join Kids On The Block
- and become one of our puppeteers. - Hello.
Hi, Valerie. How are you?
"I'm fine."
And it's amazing because the children
actually will talk to the puppets.
I want to talk to you.
Hello, Mary. Nice to meet you.
Oh, I know you can hold your head up.
It's so nice to meet you.
It's nice to see somebody who's older than me.
How long has this program been going on?
Uh, this program's been going on for a little over 33 years.
- My goodness! - Yes.
33 years.
That's amazing.
That's really fabulous.
There's thousands of children that see the puppet program.
- Really? - Yes.
How lucky.
They must adore it.
- These are so... - I feel like that they like the puppets.
Fabulous.
Tiffany, I want to thank you for talking to us
and telling us your story.
It's not an easy story to tell.
Would you tell us about what happened to you?
So, I was living in Atlanta,
and I was sexually assaulted by a coworker.
And I went to the Cobb County,
like the general hospital in the area,
and I had a rape examination done.
Rape isn't something that people like commonly
have these conversations about,
and unless you've experienced it, it's like a whole different world.
They swab your mouth and your--
anywhere that that person could've touched.
It lasted probably over six and a half hours long.
Um, a lot of poking, prodding, uh, very invasive.
And after that, they took my clothes in as evidence,
and so I kind of freaked out, because the only thing I had on
was this hospital gown and my own socks.
Because my socks weren't the ones that I had on
when I got raped.
So they take everything from the assault as evidence.
And so they bagged all my clothes up
and put them in a like a sealed box or bag,
and took them out of the room.
And this really nice lady from the Cobb County Rape Crisis Center,
she's a volunteer that came in and we sang together
"This Little Light of Mine."
Um, so that was helpful.
And then they took my clothes and then, I mentioned before, I freaked out,
but then she said, "Hold on, don't-- you know, don't worry about it,
I'll get you something for you."
She came back with that kit from the Atlanta Assistance League...
So everything that you needed to wear was in that package?
This is something similar to what I received
from the Atlanta Assistance League.
And this is their Assault Survivor Kit.
Here's like the-- like Hanes top...
um, and the bottoms.
They do two kits, they do a winter kit
and then a summer kit.
This is a winter kit, so I got raped in March,
so it was still considered winter.
Um, so it was still cold outside, here go the socks.
And the sports bra.
And they have the kits like according to sizes,
like whatever size you are.
Um, so like small, medium, large, or extra-large.
You know, these are the underwear.
These are the toiletries, toothpaste, toothbrush.
So that you can stop, like-- I know was able
to shower after the exam.
That was when I got to shower, and that was at the hospital.
You live in Michigan now,
tell me, how did you remember that that was provided
for you from the Assistance League in Atlanta?
Within the year after my-- my rape, I moved back to Michigan.
And three years after that, I opened my business.
There's something called merchant forums,
and they're held monthly, and like businesses come
and you get ideas.
And I was there one night, and this lady
came from the Assistance League with these pamphlets,
and she was telling everybody about what the Assistance League did.
And she mentioned the ask kit for survivors
of assault and domestic violence.
And I said, "Can I have one of those?"
And so I took it, and I couldn't remember what the organization was
that gave me my assault survivor kit.
I couldn't remember their name, but I said,
"If I see their logo, then I'll know that that's them."
It was them, but now in Michigan.
So there's the Michigan chapter.
I received the kit from the Atlanta chapter.
I get excited like if I--
getting excited about something that I talk like so fast,
like... and then people are like,
"Oh, my God, what are you saying?"
And then immediately, like the next day,
I went into the store, and was, you know,
probably even faster telling my story.
And they were like, "Okay, we'll get you in touch with someone,"
and they put me in touch with Jan.
And Jan invited me to speak at one of the luncheons,
they hold like this monthly luncheons.
Sometimes you do things and you don't know
if it's helping people, right?
So I wanted them to see that their work wasn't in vain
and give them a face like, yes, there are real people,
and, you know, like, even though I was in Atlanta
and received their-- a kit from that Assistance League,
people move around, and people still-- real people benefit,
and even people in your neighborhood have benefited
from this particular program
that was launched by the Assistance League.
So one of the women that were in the audience
at that particular luncheon came up to me
and shared her own personal story with me.
I was working on a program
to do something like community outreach for my business,
so that's when I came up with the idea of doing
the Granny Panty Drive
and donating the items to the Assistance League.
How do you have difficult conversations?
Well, the one way to have a difficult conversation
is to at least, you know, make somebody smile.
So the first year, we got over 4,300 pair of underwear.
And it was just me asking people to bring packs
of underwear to my studio, and then we would donate
those panties to the Assistance League of Michigan.
I am a survivor, and this is my reality,
so I was Tiffany before, I'm Tiffany now.
And what I want people to know about me is that I care.
"People love to help others and are happy in service."
Anne would be quoted as saying throughout her life.
She would prove it too.
Through Anne's numerous personal actions,
but also through the many people who, over the decades,
would selflessly answer the call to help their communities and beyond.
Hollywood has long been thought of as a self-centered,
vain, and greedy industry, but Anne would prove otherwise.
Time and again, for decades, movie studios, producers,
actors, directors, and others, many very wealthy and famous,
would graciously donate goods and money,
but more importantly, their time.
They would serve as waitresses in tearoom fundraisers.
They would attend auctions or thrift store events
to personally deliver items they were selling to raise funds.
They would be on hand to directly interact
with the public at premieres and fundraisers,
further bringing truth to the old Assistance League motto,
"All for service, and service for all."
On December 19th, 1951,
Mrs. Anne Hancock Banning died.
She was 80 years old and had filled most of her life,
certainly the last half, almost entirely with helping others.
Her days, until the end, were focused on helping
those who needed, and, she believed, deserved help.
While in many ways she had a life of privilege,
she never thought that was enough.
A social heritage is deserved only so far
as it is used for service to those who have fewer opportunities.
If value is based solely on how you help others,
then Anne's worth would be truly immeasurable.
The infinity symbol should figure prominently
next to her name, since what she started, joined,
created, dreamed so long ago, continues on today
with lives being directly changed and helped.
Probably the best example of Anne Banning's work
and legacy being continued would come in the form
of another innovative and dynamic woman,
who even shared her name.
Ruth Ann Montgomery was working as a teacher at North Hollywood High School
in North Hollywood, California, in the 1950s.
At that time, the San Fernando Valley,
which was just north of Los Angeles and Hollywood,
was an eclectic area.
Hollywood, in its wealth, was a stone's throw away.
But the San Fernando Valley itself was still mostly a rural area,
with citrus groves and farms.
This meant that Ruth's class was filled with children
of movie stars and also children of migrant farm workers.
The discrepancy of wealth, similar to today,
would be seen no more clearer than in the clothes
the children she taught wore.
In fact, Ruth discovered that many families
rotated their children through attending school,
because they shared the same clothes.
Ruth Ann, like Anne before her, did not hesitate to ask
the wealthier parents to donate hand-me-down clothes.
Ruth Ann even began storing these used clothes in a closet
in her classroom and gave them out to students who needed them.
This was only a partial solution
since many of the children from wealthier families
would recognize their hand-me-downs
and then make fun of the kids wearing them.
The seed was planted, though.
Ruth Ann began dreaming of a way to pass along good used clothes
to the less fortunate children without anyone knowing.
In 1954, Ruth Ann and her husband, Bob Montgomery,
and their two children, with another on the way,
moved to Bob's hometown of Bakersfield, California.
It would be here that Ruth Ann would follow
in Anne's footsteps and establish her own legacy.
When Paul and I first went to Universal
and saw these little children being dressed,
it was amazing to see for the first time.
I had no idea a program like this existed.
But I've learned so much more about the program since.
How really vast the program is, how many people they help,
people of all ages, not just Operation School Bell.
And they've started this new program,
and it's called Launching Literacy.
And it is to take these little children in kindergarten
and first grade, and give them a leg up in reading.
"'That's disgusting,' the entire table said."
"'It's actually the perfect mix of salty and sweet.
You should try it sometime.'"
So, these are little teddy bears,
and we give them to several agencies.
They go to the police department, the fire department,
ambulances, rape crisis centers.
Basically, they're there to comfort a child
when they have encountered a child in a traumatic situation.
We have a festival every year for the children
at the preschool, so beautiful photos from that.
- Another mentoring program. - A mentoring program.
And the nice part about Cameo, these are professional women,
uh, who help mentor high school students
and reentry women from Long Beach City College.
The one program we haven't talked about is called ALa Carte,
and it stands for like Assistance League,
- so it's called ALa Carte. - Yes.
And we have volunteers that go to Miller Children's
& Women's Hospital here in Long Beach.
This is intended for children
who cannot go to the activities room,
so they provide bedside activities,
games, arts and crafts.
They often will provide respite for the parents,
so that they can take a break.
And they see about 200 to 250 children a month.
So, originally, it was this day nursery
and kindergarten for children.
That was in the 1920s, that was the foundation.
And then over the years it developed
and became what it is today, which is a preschool.
And we have nine staff at that preschool.
It opens at 7:30 in the morning
and it closes at 6:30 at night.
We take care of them all day long.
The teachers speak-- between the nine of them,
they speak seven different languages.
Here's another picture of our preschool graduation.
- You can see how proud she is. - Yes, absolutely.
And their families are equally proud, believe me, it's amazing.
The parents, when their five-year-olds walk down the aisle
in a cap and gown, it's amazing.
We have a program called AL's Closet,
Assistance League's Closet.
We're in 52, uh, at-risk schools now.
So, it's-- it's the same clothing, basically,
that we have in Operation School Bell,
but we give the school a budget,
it's for emergency needs of that school.
So, if somebody has an accident,
a small child has an accident, there are clothes for that.
I've heard teachers say that, you know, sometimes they've changed out ten shoes,
because the child just could not get their shoes on
and she said, "And I looked at it,
I gave this little boy a pair of shoes
that were two sizes bigger than the pair that he had on his feet
when he came into school that day."
Uh, we provide scholarships to Long Beach City College
and Cal-State Long Beach students,
and then also a music scholarship
to Long Beach Unified School District.
More photos on the wall from the theater,
and a performance, and a thank-you note
to the Nine O'clock Players, our theater program.
We also do a program called Hope High, where we've, uh, partnered
with another non-profit in town.
They deal strictly with homeless high school students.
And we were looking to expand our programs,
and they made the comment to us that what they really needed
were good quality backpacks,
because a homeless high school student could,
you know, live inside of that backpack.
It's the book bag, it's the food pantry, it's the closet.
And they were getting donations, but they weren't the quality
that were going to stand up for more than, you know, a week
before straps were starting to break or zippers--
Yeah. Then we found some-- a great price point
on some designer backpacks.
I mean a label that every other child was probably carrying,
you are not being labeled as carrying a--
"Look, she's got an Assistance League backpack."
You could be any other child at school.
Sure. Sure.
I could use two words to describe Assistance League,
and the words would be "transforming lives."
That is in our mission statement.
But those are the two most important words that we have.
I think that transforming lives says it all.
- It does. - It does.
In 1956, the Assistance League,
as a tribute to its founder,
would welcome the Anne Banning Auxiliary to the League,
with the aim to perpetuate Mrs. Banning's ideals
of community service.
Also in 1956, Ruth Ann Montgomery,
now comfortably settled into her home
of Bakersfield, California, and her role of activist,
continued building upon her idea of a closet filled with used clothing
that could be handed out to needy kids.
In fact, for a few years prior,
Ruth Ann and a group of 23 women, had been collecting,
sorting, and laundering used clothes.
At one point, even using one of the women's garage
as the collection point.
In 1956, they named themselves the Volunteer Service Guild.
And their program continued to be extremely
well-received by the local community.
Also during this time, helping with public relations,
was charter member Winnie Davis' husband Tom.
Tom Davis, a World War II veteran,
knew military terminology,
Tom also understood that you couldn't start anything
until you had a name for your mission.
It would be Tom who assigned their noble venture
the name Operation School Bell.
Like Anne before her, Ruth Ann still imagined
something more, something larger.
So Ruth Ann studied and researched
various non-profits before deciding the Assistance League
would be a perfect fit.
How right she would be.
On May 28th, 1958,
Ruth Ann's Volunteer Service Guild would become
the 23rd chapter of the Assistance League.
By 1965, Operation School Bell
was adopted by the volunteer members
of the Anne Banning Auxiliary
to provide used clothing to school children
from kindergarten through high school.
A fitting tribute to Ruth Ann's idea and Anne's legacy.
Operation School Bell has grown exponentially
since its inception, while also becoming
a signature program of the Assistance League.
In July, 1997, the national board voted
to make Operation School Bell a national program.
All new charters to the League are required to have
an Operation School Bell program.
In 2008, Ruth Ann was honored at the national conference,
as the person who started Operation School Bell.
Thanks to Ruth Ann Montgomery and through generous donors
and countless hard-working volunteers,
Operation School Bell has now directly helped
millions of children across the United States.
Operation School Bell has also helped to solidify
Mrs. Anne Hancock Banning's legacy of activism and charity,
and proves that one man, or woman,
can forever change the world if they have an idea
and are willing to follow it through.
If Anne and Ruth Ann, and the hundreds
of thousands of women who came before,
could see the Assistance League today
and what their actions have set into motion,
they might have felt quite satisfied.
Or maybe they'd just be inspired to do more.
What I am certain of is that we, you and I,
carry this torch on to inspire future generations.
It appears Anne was really on to something, when in 1938,
she was quoted as saying,
"People love to help others and are happy in service."
The Assistance League's original motto
is no less truer today than it was over a hundred years ago--
"All for service and service for all."
It's one year since we started this,
and, golly, we've learned so much,
and we've done so many things, met so many people,
seen so many children excited and thrilled
to be a part of Operation School Bell,
watching everybody being helped and helping others.
"Dear Assistance League,
thank you so much for the backpack and uniforms."
"Dear Operation School Bell,
thank you for all the glorious things."
"Dear Assistance League,
I'm excited to come to school.
Thank you for all the stuff you gave me and my friends."
"When I grow up, I will help children
like you do."
"Thank you so much for the backpack,
I really enjoyed the school supplies and clothes,
they fitted good and I got to use the supplies for homework."
"Thank you for the uniforms,
I'm so happy that I have new clothes."
"I appreciate this awesome backpack."
"We wanted to thank you so much
for everything you do."
"Dear Operation School Bell."
"Thank you, Operation School Bell!"
I'm glad I joined this organization,
it touched me in a way that I can't even explain.
All I know is, when I first came,
watching these kids, it made me cry.
Here I am a year later, and I'm about to cry
right on camera, I'm sorry.
But I love what we've done,
and I'm so proud to be a part of it.
And... I hope you enjoy what you're watching.