High school students, helping make a change in their community. This is what happens with the annual Coats for Kids Fundraiser. Throughout the next 2 weeks, our school will collect money and coats to give to cold kids as winter gets closer.

This fundraiser and those similar to it have made amazing changes for so many people. Last year, the Spokane fundraiser collected as many as 2,500 coats (from KXLY.com). Hundreds of families are able to benefit from this, even if it’s from receiving, distributing, or giving.

Nearly 1 in 5 children in the United States live in poverty, so it’s an easy bet that there are people at our own school who will need a coat for the winter. Donating won’t only help someone you may know, but may give you a sense of satisfaction from being able to help others. Who knew it could be so easy to make a difference!

Coats for Kids was started by a couple from Virginia in 2004. Operation Warm has been a sponsor since 2011. I reached out to the administration of Operation Warm to ask a few question, which were answered very quickly.

One of the questions I asked was how many children/families could go without a coat this winter? Their response was “Roughly 20% of children within the U.S. live at or below the poverty line.  Nearly 15 million children at some point in the last year have been food insecure, meaning that some days, they don’t know where their next meal will come from.  We believe anyone that falls into these categories may need a coat as their families may not have the resources to provide them one.”

The other was how many coats they have collected since their project started. “Operation Warm’s mission is a bit different.  Instead of participating in collecting used clothing, we provide our own brand new winter coats to children in need.  Since our founding in 1998, we’ve helped over 2 million children receive a new coat.” All questions were answered by Brock Clauser, the marketing director of Operation Warm.

Although not exactly the same, both projects have the same goal- no child left cold. To learn more on Coats for Kids or Operation Warm you can visit their website.

Photo from WIVB.com