Ahh --- spring cleaning time. Oprah recently tackled the project of cleaning her closet and the March issue of the magazine lists One Warm Coat as a "featured charity" for unwanted coats. Page 159 lists organizations that would be pleased to accept your old eyeglasses, musical instruments, cell phones and more.
Wonder what she's doing with all the items she is "tossing"? They will be auctioned on eBay to support the Oprah's Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. The auction runs from March 1 to March 11.
Wouldn't it be fun to have an item from Oprah's closet AND support her Academy ---
With an e-mail signing off with the above message, I know that One Warm Coat is making an impact on the lives of folks -- even in New York City.
The Barbour Company, which makes iconic English oilcloth outerwear worn by generations of country gentlemen, has hosted One Warm Coat drives for three years at the United States stores (New York, Philly and Boston). BTW, this is the type of coat that is on my "when I win the lottery" list --
Maggie, the manager of their New York store, sent us a beautiful message with several stories from their coat drive. Each one is terrific, but here's the one I'll share:
Just before Christmas a couple came in and bought a coat and on their way out saw the sign for One Warm Coat. They gentleman asked one of our associates where the warmest coat we had in our store was. He bought it and placed it in the One Warm Coat box and then they both left the store.
Someone in New York learned the meaning of "generosity" -- was it the donor who's heart was touched, or the woman who received the coat?
When we heard this concept for a "coat drive" we were a little skeptical -- StorQuest, with 45 storage facilities in Arizona, Clifornia and Colorado, was hosting their annual managers meeting in Los Angeles and they wanted a challenge for this year's meeting. How about a take off on "Amazing Race" having different teams compete to see who would collect the most coats by asking folks (get this -- in Los Angeles -- you know, it's not too cold there) to donate the coat off their back!
It was a great success! Many people donated coats -- some on the spot, some went home to gather coats. And the managers learned so much about the need for coats.
Each team took extreme measures including cheering at soccer games, riding subway lines, hopping on city busses, singing Christmas carols or whatever it took to encourage someone to give a coat. The teams collected over 200 coats literally off the backs of those walking around the streets of LA. "It gave us goosebumps to witness the generosity exhibited by the community. We never envisioned that through our efforts we would collect so many coats on our first day," says Michelle Bakva, Marketing Director.
After the meeting each StorQuest facility hosted One Warm Coat during the month of December and a total of 1,364 coats were collected. Even better (for us anyway) 72 publications picked up this effort and wrote articles about One Warm Coat.
Here's a great video about their "Amazing Coat Drive" day. Wonder what the managers will have to do next year?
We like to think that we've made the thought of organizing a coat drive "easy peasy" -- so it is very gratifying to receive feedback from our Organizers.
Breanna hosted her first One Warm Coat drive in November. Her drive lasted one month and resulted in 543 COATS being donated. She sent us us CD with pictures, a copy of the flyer that she created and comments on ways we can make the project better.
We'll be incorporating her thoughts into our plans for the coming year. Let us know if you have any ideas for One Warm Coat next year ---
Here's Olivier Ngoran of Carrefour Pastoral de la Franchophonie, a
ministry for the French-speaking immigrant community in New York, pointing to some of the warm coats that were donated to their organization thru several One Warm Coat drives.
Carrefour solved the challenge of picking up coats in New York City with the assistance of taxi drivers who generously donated their talents and time to transport coats from donation sites.
Whether it's donating your time to organize a coat drive, donating that warm coat, or perhaps your vehicle -- there are ways to help those in need in your community.
There are many logistical hurdles that have to be solved with hosting a coat drive -- the rewards are hundreds of warm hearts.
Judge Glenda Hatchett, recently posted a YouTube video encouraging folks to "take time, make a difference" by donating a coat. She was, as usual, spot on!
Glenda Hatchett, former Chief Presiding Judge of the Fulton County, Georgia Juvenille Court is the author of the national best-seller "Say What you Mean, Mean What You Say". Her syndicated show is now in its 8th season on Sony Pictures Television.
I hope this logo is familiar to you -- but just in case you don't know who KaBOOM! is (yes, the exclamation mark is definitely part of their logo), they are the non-profit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. More than 1,500 playgrounds have been built thru their efforts since 1995
KaBOOM! held their first One Warm Coat drive this past December at their HQ in Washington, D.C. They were able to collect 67 coats and one very "warm" story about the importance of a coat:
One girl in particular found a slightly worn chocolate brown coat with a faux fur collar. She looked at it as though it was meant for her. As she was trying it on, you could tell it would be the perfect fit -- and of course it was. The girl whisperered to her teacher asking for the coat to be set aside for her. She had not come to school that BALMY 32 degree day wearing a coat, but how amazing it is to know that she would be going home with one.
Did you get a chance to see the finale of the "Warm Coats + Warm Hearts" coat drive on ABC News' Good Morning America on January 15th?
This year's coat drive reached numbers that surprised us all -- final count was 219,762 coats -- a whopping 24% increase over last year's numbers. Very gratifiying to have so many people take the time to help those in need --
The "Warm Coats + Warm Hearts" drive is now in it's third year. A tremendously successful partnership between three organizations that all come together for one reason -- to help folks who need a coat. We give thanks to the employees of Burlington Coat Factory who work hard during a busy holiday season to accept and sort the coats. For the ABC and Disney folks who bring their talent to the project, we are amazed at how creative and caring they are.
Maureen Murphy has been working non-stop for the past 3 months coordinating the 200+ social service agencies who pick up the coats and distribute them to their clients. If you get a chance, go over the abcnews.com and look at the finale -- January 15 finale.
She spent a little extra time after the show with her favorite weatherman Sam Champion -- go figure????
