Katie Baxa, philanthropy chair of Alpha Phi Omega, states, “’Go coatless for kids’ is how we are pitching it to students here.  We want students to experience the cold without a coat as we consider childhood poverty across the country!” 

Lieutenant Governor Matthew Denn, Newark City Mayor Vance A. Funk, and our founder Dick Sanford will all be in attendance and speaking at the event.

This year, the holiday season was even merrier for the children in Jewish Child Care Association’s (JCCA) Mental Health and Preventive Services program. Through the generosity of Operation Warm Inc., an organization that provides coats to underserved children, 126 brand new coats were donated to the youth for the holidays. This was particularly welcome this season as the continued economic downturn has made it difficult for struggling families to give their children the clothing they require. JCCA is thrilled that our neediest children will now be warm and cozy this winter season!

Here are some comments from the grateful children and their parents on receiving their gifts:

“Receiving a coat for my son has been so helpful, because without this help he would not have a coat for the winter.” –DG

“My son needs this coat. I don’t have the funds right now to get him a new one. Thank you so much!” –CJP

“Will I wear this coat? Of course, it is so nice!” – HH

A BIG THANK YOU TO ACCUGENIX.

“The Riverside Elementary School students, parents, staff and community would like to express our sincerest gratitude for the coats you provided. To you it may be just a coat, but to our students it’s the difference between a good or bad day. We appreciate you kindness and thoughtfulness”
-Tiashia Roberts, Counselor

“My son Zakai said ‘Thank You!’ the coat is a perfect fit. Looks like we got it just in time for the historic nor’easter”
-Angel (parent at Project Hope)

“Thank you for your generous donation of coats to Leake and Watts. We are truly delighted to be able to provide children and their parents in our programs with bright, beautiful but most importantly warm coats. The coats will be distributed to children from low-income communities in the Bronx who are part of our foster care, preventative services and Head Start programs. One of our program directors said that the coats were the best in-kind gift his program has ever received. We are grateful for the gift."
-Alan Mucatel, Executive Director

These grins are brought to you by wonderful folks like you, who believe that every child should be warm in winter.  For all of your past support, we say THANK YOU on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of kids we've given the gift of warmth since 1998.

As winter's coldest days begin to close in on us, there are over 18,000,000 children in this country who will struggle to survive without basic necessities. Childhood poverty grows at an alarming rate; the need is greater than ever.

This winter, Operation Warm is pushing hard to reach our one millionth child, a milestone that underscores the dire need to help U.S. children in poverty not only survive, but thrive.

With your $20.00 donation, you will ensure that a child receives a brand new winter coat - an important necessity that increases the opportunity for better school attendance, healthy outdoor play, and better overall health. Please also remember that for many of these children, this will be their first new winter coat, EVER!

Thank you for considering our request to DONATE NOW. Thank you!

...these smiles are PRICELESS!

On Monday December 19th the Fairfax County firefighters and paramedics sponsored their the 14th Annual Firefighters Holiday Rescuer’s Toy Drive  at Penn Daw Fire and Rescue Station 11 in  Alexandria, Virginia.

Department members, the Progressive Firefighters of Fairfax County, Inc., and International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 2068, have been collecting toys and  games to be distributed to children throughout Fairfax County. Thanks to Operation Warm, new coats were added to the many items children received just in time for the holidays.

Through generous donations and support from businesses and civic organizations including Coats for Kids a service of Operation Warm, Deloitte Consulting, Inc., Promax Realtors, Apple Credit Union, Nationwide Creditors, and the Rotary Club of Tysons Corner, that several thousand school-aged children and their families  received holiday gifts this season.

She researched different organizations and became interested in Operation Warm-a non-profit that originated in her own back yard. She loves the idea of a local organization solving a local problem.  She used her passion for baking to raise money and awareness for Operation Warm. Olivia challenged the Sunday school kids at Beth Emeth in Wilmington Delaware to raise money. The best performing class won a cupcake party. 

At the end of the challenge, over $500 was raised, delicious cupcakes were eaten and the Delaware community became aware of the fantastic work of Operation Warm. Olivia plans to continue with this project and bring it to her high school next year.

With the skies gray and gloomy with blustery rain and winds at 20 MPH and temperatures dipping into the mid 30’s the weather conditions were ideal for the need of a warm winter coat. The Rotary Club of Carpentersville-Morning was able to fulfill that need for close to 350 children in the Carpentersville District 300 school district Wednesday November 9th, 2011.

For the 3rd consecutive year The Rotary Club of Carpentersville-Morning conducted their Operation Warm program which to this date has bought close to 600 brand new winter coats to local needy children in the Carpentersville Community. The Carpentersville Rotary Club works with the Operation Warm Organization to help provide the brand new winter coats, which are made out of 100% recycled material, and utilizes the Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township to determine the need from the youth in their programs.

Through various fund-raising activities and gracious donations the Rotary Club of Carpentersville-Morning was able to raise around $6,000 to purchase the 350 coats to distribute for this year’s Operation Warm Program. Originally started in 2009 as the clubs flagship program, the Operation Warm program has quickly grown from 1 school with 80 coats to 5 schools and close to 350 coats in a 3 year period.

 
Children who received coats have participated in a year long program, put in place by the Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township, dedicated to community service. These children then presented their community service essays, posters and accomplishments  to the Carpentersville Rotary when they received their coats and made the night all that more fulfilling. The many Thank You’s, Hugs, High Five’s, and Bright Smiles were more than enough to show the amount of appreciation from both the Rotary Club of Carpentersville-Morning and the many little children. 

The Rotary Club of Carpentersville-Morning Plans to continue this program in the future and is very grateful for all the community support, volunteers, and help from the Boys and Girls Club.

On December 3, 2011, Cumulus Radio and Northeastern Ford Dealers joined Operation Warm to sponsor an amazing program in Youngstown.  Their generous support allowed Operation Warm to partner with the Salvation Army of the Mahoning Valley in the distribution of over 1000 coats to children in need.  

The event was staffed by the Salvation Army, Cumulus and Ford volunteers giving vo;unteers a first hand look at how their genorousity impacts thier local community.  The event aimed to distribute the brand new coats to local families in need.  Cumulus, was instrumental in getting this new program off the ground. They spearheaded the fundraising efforts by running campains on all eight of their stations surrounding Youngstown to generate the neccesary support for the program. Without Cumulus'  passion and interest, as well as The North Eastern Ford Dealers commitment to the community, none of this would be possible.  As Major Elijah Kahn of the Salvation Army of Mahoning County said when speaking of this gift,  "The limited resources, the scarce resources that these families have, they can use it to pay their rent, or pay their light bill.  And we can provide these coats so that their children can have something during the winter."  

What an amazing show of holiday spirit from Cumulus and Ford! Thank you for all you do.

This wonderful awareness raising effort highlighted Operation Warm’s efforts in Alexandria and Fairfax counties VA. OPeration Warm, with the support of local partenrs was able to provide hundreds of coats to children in need this fall. As the highlighted cause, the local community were able to learn more about our work right in their back yards.  In addition to spreading the word about our work, the ‘Cause of the Month’ program donated a portion of all ad proceeds.  This will help fund our local programs with the Fairfax and Alexandria counties Fire and Rescue. With the outpouring of suppoert, Operation Warm will be able to host ANOTHER coat distribution at the end of December.

This honor will help us reach even more children as cold weather sets in around our nation’s capital. Let’s all thank the Alexandria Times staff for helping Operation Warm spread the gift of warmth!

Old Navy is partnering with Operation Warm for this week-long event in a unified effort to ensure children living in poverty in their communities receive the gift of warmth as the nation's weather turns cold.

If you or anyone you know lives in such areas as Little Rock, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, etc., please take advantage of this special opportunity to buy a coat and ensure a child will be warm.

Also Operation Warm truly appreciates Old Navy's support and in turn we will be partnering with local organizations and elementary schools to make sure area kids are warmer this Thanksgiving season.  If you are a local organization in the areas where this promotion is taking place, Operation Warm would love to hear from you.  Similarly, if you are a retailer interested in working with us we'd love to discuss joint opprotunities with you! 

For the fourth year, Operation Warm partnered with the Chicago Housing Authority to provide Impact Beyond Warmth to over 3,000 families and their children living in poverty.  10,000 children received new winter coats while their parents were connected with valuable social services at a Resource Fair featuring over forty agencies and companies that help low income families improve their lives.

At the event, flu shots were given, state IDs and drivers licenses renewed, energy assistance applications processed and connections were made.  Work force development agencies, dental and medical clinics and education resources were on hand, meeting families and offering their services. 

Great thanks are due to the event sponsors, especially JPMorgan Chase, who provided scores of volunteers, and PepsiCo, who passed out thousands of bags of groceries.  Both companies also made generous donations to cover the cost of the 10,000 new Operation Warm coats, as did Harmony Health Plan, ComEd, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Nan McKay, CVR Associates, Mesirow Financial, CNA Financial, TEC Services, Chicago White Sox Charities, Groupon and the Partnership for New Communities.  Thanks to all who made this a great event, and helped put smiles and a nice warm feeing on so many Chicago children.