Established in 1983 after an initial meeting at the Almaden Country Club, the original group of 66 women set out to continue the mission of the national organization to help the children in their community. Today, the organization still has about 65 members, of whom nearly half are from the Almaden Valley.

The first project the San Jose chapter tackled was providing fingerprinting services to the community.

Now, more than 20 years later, the San Jose chapter has many programs to help children and seniors in the community.

The chapter's main project is Operation School Bell, a national program in which all of the chapters participate. As part of the program, the San Jose chapter donates school uniforms to elementary school students whose families cannot afford them.

This year, the group will distribute 4,400 uniforms to 2,200 students in the San Jose Unified and Franklin McKinley school districts.

Karen Bode has been managing this project for the San Jose chapter for nearly five years.

"I volunteered to be on the steering committee, but we needed someone to step in and take over," Bode said. "I didn't know what I was getting into when I agreed, but it's been a very pleasant experience and I'm learning every day."

At Terrell Elementary School in the San Jose Unified School District, health clerk Donna Strah asks the children who receive uniforms to write the Assistance League volunteers thank-you notes.

The notes not only bring a smile to the women's faces, but they help the organization receive grants and other funding.

"I felt it was something the students should do as a gift to them," Strah said, adding the thank you notes are also a lesson for the students. "We tell them this is what you do when you get a gift, you make sure the person knows you think of them."

The organization is entirely run by volunteers, which allows the group to give 85 percent of the funds it raises back to the community. Lynda Tomasello, the last active charter member of the group, said the last 15 percent is used for the costs of running the organization.

Many of the women in the organization said they joined because of the opportunities made available through the programs to help children in their communities.

Tomasello, who was at that first meeting, said she decided to join because of something Pat Borges, the woman who initiated the meeting, said. Tomasello never forgot her words.

"She told us that we can only bowl so many games and play so many rounds of bridge before the time comes to give back," Tomasello said. "That made us all go, 'Yeah, you're right.' "

The San Jose chapter was officially chartered by the national organization in 1988.

Throughout the year, the volunteers raise money through grants and fundraising events to run the programs, which use between $40,000 and $50,000 per year.

The Fall Floral Fantasy has been a fundraising event for the last four years and will be held this year on Nov. 9 at 10 a.m., at the Almaden Country Club. The event features Kren Rasmussen from Bloomster's demonstrating ways to make fall floral arrangements. Some of his arrangements will then be auctioned off.

The money will go toward the programs, and also toward the sponsorship of the teen room in the new Almaden Branch Library.

Other programs through the Assistance League of San Jose include:

* SEE: vision screening for elementary students to check for amblyopia or "lazy eye."

* Kids on the Block: a life-sized puppet show for third-graders about bullying.

* Hug A Bear: the group purchases up to 5,000 teddy bears to be given to children in traumatic situations.

* Telecare: a program for seniors who live alone and would like an Assistance League volunteer to call them periodically.

* Bingo: Volunteers visit nursing homes to help the seniors play Bingo.