OKC Public Schools Partners With Salvation Army, Legacy Cleaners To Give Coats To Kids

Teachers in Oklahoma City Public Schools have identified more than 1,000 students who have been going to school without proper winter clothing like coats, hats and gloves. The Salvation Army has partnered up with the school district with the goal of giving a winter coat to any student who needs one.

"The kids come to schools in the weather without a coat," said Paige Bressman, Eugene Field Elementary School principal. "We have kids that walk into the building on mornings like today with hands so red that they hurt."

At the start of winter, Eugene Field Elementary School's staff identified more than 150 students who needed a coat. On Tuesday afternoon, 56 students still needed a coat.

"We go all out trying to find coats, find scarfs, find hats. We hit up all sorts of different areas of the city trying to find them," explained Bressman. "We've worked on trying to get coats for kids for years, and there's never enough for all the kids."

At the end of the day, some students head out into the cold with sweatshirts and puffy vests. Some students were not even wearing long sleeves. In below-freezing temperatures, that just does not cut it.

"There is any reason that we as a community cannot provide these coats that are needed," Jeanean South with the Salvation Army in Oklahoma City said.

The Salvation Army will provide as many coats as possible to students in Oklahoma City. Anyone wanting to donate a new or used coat can do so at the Salvation Army or at a Legacy Cleaners location.

Legacy Cleaners has been cleaning the used coats for free before the Salvation Army hands them out.