This warm family photo comes to us from the Boys & Girls Club of Hartford. Thanks to Chad W., Nina M. and their team, families like this one are enjoying brand new winter coats! Through the challenges of a blustery northeast winter, caring teams like this one have made it possible for us to distribute coats to thousands of children in need. As we head into Spring, we will look back on this Winter and give thanks for the new friends we’ve made – like the Boys & Girls Club of Hartford – and the many lives we warmed together…one coat at a time. Thank you all for making our work possible!

The team at Ford’s Chicago Stamping Plant/Local 588 have four times the pride – and deserve four times the thanks – for wrapping up their One Warm Coat drive. It’s their fourth coat drive in a row! Diana T. proudly shared that they were able to divide their donations between the Sojourner Truth House (IN) and Aunt Martha’s Youth Service Center (IL), agencies who serve at-risk families and the homeless. It has been a very snowy winter in the Chicago area. Our hearts are especially full, knowing that teams like Diana’s remember their neighbors and work to ensure that free warm coats are available for them year after year.

Today we shine the spotlight on the Girl Scouts of the USA in honor of Girl Scout Week and our longstanding relationship! From the earliest days of One Warm Coat, Girl Scouts and their leaders across the country have been our “friends in warmth,” holding individual coat drives and providing support to our largest coat drive projects. This week, we salute the many ways that Girl Scouts, Brownies, Daisies and their leaders spread the warmth of friendship and service from coast to coast. Thank you, girls, for helping to make your communities a warmer place to live year after year!

Receiving the gift of a winter coat does a body good on two levels: it lifts the spirit and provides vital protection against the cold. Thanks to our friends at Kahlua and the Pernod Ricard family of brands, thousands more Americans learned just how that feels this Fall and Winter! As their Share the Warmth program draws to a close, we say, “Here’s to you, Kahlua and Pernod Ricard! Your caring, creative team and your very generous contribution to our shared work make our spirits soar!”

Friends are continuing to report on their coat drives through our Share Your Success link! Cornelia V., V.P. of the Swagger Crew Fit Kidz (GA), reported that her students “had a blast” collecting coats this Winter and “can’t wait to do it again next year!” After collecting coats at the Dominy School of the Performing Arts, the “crew” headed over to their local Burlington Coat Factory store with their donation. Check out this fun snapshot of the kids with their adult mentors, Swagger Crew CEO Jason C. and Burlington store manager Kelly. Welcome to the One Warm Coat “family,” Swagger Crew. We’re proud to know you! (Note: The Warm Coats and Warm Hearts national coat drive with Burlington Coat Factory and Good Morning America ended January 31, 2013. If you are holding a coat drive, go to our Find an Agency link to see a list of organizations who are still accepting coats.)

The March issue of “O,” the Oprah Magazine, featured One Warm Coat as one of the “places” to de-clutter your life! The article follows Oprah’s staffers as they get rid of their clutter ‘for good.’ Lorraine donated her extra warm outerwear, with a recommendation to check out our website! Thanks, Oprah and team, for showing us new ways to think about our clutter and spotlighting places where it can find a new home! (De-cluttering soon? Why not take a tip from this generous team and get rid of your stuff for GOOD – for the good it can do in someone else’s life, that is.)

If every child with a warm winter coat in York PA made a snowman, it might look just like this! And, today, it could happen, thanks to Lindi W. and the team at the York Rescue Mission. They have been helping us give away the last of our shipments of new children’s coats, working to distribute the coats through their program and through other area service agencies. Healthy, happy kids, playing with friends in the snow – a perfect picture for a winter Friday! Brought to you by our generous friends and dedicated Agencies. We thank them all for helping us make it possible.

The forecast in Presque Isle, ME is a balmy 30 degrees, but the wind reduces it to 14. Today, we’re thrilled to report that the neediest children in this community and many others will be warmer very soon, thanks to their brand new coats! To help One Warm Coat distribute these children’s coats, Roger A. and the Daughters of Isabella of the Parish of Notre Dame du Mont Carmel are working with their truly impressive network of churches and community organizations from Madawaska, Van Buren and Fort Kent to the Canadian border. They even know a very generous truck driver, who picked up their coat shipment in Bangor (two hours away) and delivered it free of charge! Their effort gives new and greater meaning to the word “organization!” Thank you, Roger and team. You are…awesome!

When coat drive Organizer Krista M. of Rapid Chevrolet Cadillac (SD) completed the Share Your Success form on our website, the number 3 began popping up in important places! This is the group’s third annual One Warm Coat drive. Krista described her ‘three-pronged approach’ to marketing the coat drive, including outreach to 1) local TV, 2) radio and 3) newspapers. She also used the company’s website, Facebook page and press releases to broadcast the dates and times of their coat drive. In the end, they were able to deliver both new and gently used warm coats to Youth and Family Services, the Corner Stone Rescue Mission and area schools (that’s three groups in need!). Thank you, Rapid Chevrolet Cadillac, for sharing the story of your “three-peat” coat drive. Your continuing commitment to your community and your outstanding organization provide inspiration to us all!

Imagine this little girl’s happy smile multiplied 15,000 times and you’ll “get the picture” of what we have enjoyed during this winter’s special children’s coat giveaway. We can almost hear this little sprite’s giggle as she runs outside to play with friends! Our supportive networks at the FACES of Crisis Nursery, National Head Start Association and numerous other community Agencies have made it possible for us to reach the neediest children this Fall and Winter with the gift of a good winter coat and the warmth of your caring. And each happy photo is priceless. We hope you enjoy this one as much as we do!