Children's coats to be handed out

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - For the past few weeks, News 18 has teamed up with the Salvation Army and several area businesses to collect winter coats for children for this year's "Coats for Kids" campaign.

"There's coats of all sizes, all colors, all weights and that's the important thing about this is that we'll be able to help a variety of people," Major Jim Irvine with the Salvation Army said. "The children really are the important focus of this. It's heartbreaking to see when a child hasn't got a coat."

"It's not simply about a coat, or a pair of pants, it's about connecting with a human in need and being able to make a difference. The coat is simply the vehicle to make that happen," Irvine said.

More than 1,500 donated coats are piled high at the Salvation Army. All after community members and local businesses, including Wabash National, Fairfield Manufacturing and News 18 came together to make this year's "Coats for Kids" campaign a success.

“Over 1,400. That was the challenge we put out to the community that if we exceeded 1,400 coats collected that we would step up at Wabash National and Fairfield and provide an additional one thousand dollar contribution," President and CEO of Wabash National Dick Giromini said.

"The response was overwhelming from our perspective, more than we did last year and we'll see if we can do even more next year," Vice President of Human Relations at Fairfield Manufacturing Jim Mills said. Fairfield is also one of the sponsors of Coats for Kids, donating $1,000 to the effort.

Making it possible to warm the hearts of children while keeping them warm this winter, one jacket at a time.

The distribution starts Saturday morning at the Salvation Army from 9 A.M. until 11 A.M.

Everything from coats, boots, hats and mittens and other winter children's clothing will be available on a first come, first serve basis.

Coats for Kids is also supported by Pay Less Supermarkets and Regions Bank.