Print edition: 
Jolene Novascone knows her way around area Walmarts. For the past three years, Novascone has hunted for inexpensive clothing items for local children. As a shopper for Operation School Bell, she looked for items in certain sizes, searching for the cheapest prices she could find.
Last school year, the Assistance League's Operation School Bell spent $180,000 to provide free clothing to about 4,000 children.
The School Supply Landslide, which asks the public to donate crayons to calculators, provided about 8,700 children with basic school supplies.
The two programs benefit students in the Wichita district, where 70 percent of children are part of the federally funded free- and reduced-price lunch program. School Supply Landslide also serves local students outside the Wichita district.
The results of programs like these have a definite effect on students starting school, said Wendy Johnson, spokeswoman for Wichita public schools.
These donations keep children from feeling singled out if they don't have money for supplies and prevent teachers from paying out of pocket because they want students to have what they need, Johnson said.
"It's a big, big deal for kids to be able to come to school with new stuff," Johnson said.
Though the two programs are some of the largest communitywide programs to clothe and equip students, Johnson said the Wichita district has other partners who also fund items for schools.
The KAKE School Supply Landslide is collecting backpacks, notebooks, calculators, crayons and other items through the end of August. Once the supplies are collected from area drop-off points, the Salvation Army will distribute supply kits to families who apply for them.
Though most students pick up their free kits in August, the program also provides additional items during the school year as children run out.
Craig Plank, the Salvation Army's director of development, said with many families struggling to meet basic needs, there's not money to shop for classroom items.
"All of a sudden school supplies become an unaffordable luxury," he said.
In 2009, the 8,700 children who received supplies from the program represented almost a 35 percent increase from 2008. Plank said he expects another increase this year.
Operation School Bell, which is in its 25th year, prepares clothing kits for USD 259 children nominated by school social workers. The kits include new shirts, pants, a backpack, a coat and undergarments and cost about $90 a child.
"What we're trying to do is help these children have a good, positive self-esteem when they go to school that they can be like the other children and have new clothes," said Jolene Burgess, the project's chairwoman.
The group buys clothing in bulk, but when it runs out of items or needs a less typical size, a special-needs shopper, like Novascone, purchases the items locally.
Novascone retired from her shopping position this year but said she enjoyed the challenge of shopping for the best deal.
"I miss it," she said. "It's in my blood."
The project is funded through Assistance League's fundraisers and thrift shop, as well as grants and donations. School social workers pick up the clothes to give to students August through January, although the operation will fill requests through May.
Burgess said one social worker compared the joy students feel when they receive the clothes to the happiness people feel when they receive a flower delivery.
"There's just that look you get on someone's face when something is delivered," Burgess said.
