Giving Back to the Community: A Trip to Jubilee Reach

Students pose in a group photo outside Jubilee REACH Thrift StoreBy: Marcus

On Tues, Dec 4 the Social Change in America course had a special day planned. The students spent an entire quarter collecting clothing donations for the homeless and were spending the day gathering everything up to be sent to a non-profit organization called Jubilee REACH. Jubilee REACH helps people in Bellevue learn English as a Second Language, gives kids an extra curricular art class, and even a before school club for elementary kids to let them learn neat activities like launching rockets or creating models of the polluted oceans. Our class spent most of the time getting our donations organized and tallied up, with total donations being 351 items. Then, with some students offering to drive, we set off for Jubilee REACH. When we got there, we presented the clothing donations to store manager Jason Bryant, and he was very grateful for that. In addition, I made a comment that the manager really appreciated about how much the homeless appreciate places like Jubilee REACH who make it their mission to give back to them. The manager also let us know that within the Bellevue area, there are an astonishing 98 languages spoken. To my surprise, I also made a special connection with a volunteer who happened to be working on that day as well. The volunteer’s name was Megan, and she works at a store in Woodinville, but when she isn’t working at the store, she volunteers her time at Jubilee REACH. She told me that she really agrees with what I said, and that she also loved volunteering for them.

Congrats to the Social Change classes on doing our part for the community.


Social Change in America is one of the many courses OLS Students take to obtain their associate degree from OLS. Embedded in the Social Change in America curriculum is the annual OLS Fall Service Project – a donation drive to benefit a local non-profit doing important work in the community. This year it was Jubilee REACH, which runs a variety of education, arts, and sports programs for low-income families throughout Bellevue.

Learning how to develop and carry out a group service project is a key outcome for the course, and OLS students worked closely together every step of the way, including deciding  what items to collect, building a marketing campaign, creating and decorating the donation bins, sorting donated items, and delivering the items to Jubilee Reach. Sales of these items through the holiday season will help fund its many community programs in the coming year. As one student remarked afterward, “It felt really good to know we did something to help them out.” Total items collected this year was 351.

Hosting a clothing drive is a annual project as part of Service Learning. More information about our curriculum is available on our website. To learn more about our program register for an Information Session.

Last Updated September 15, 2020