Minneapolis Firefighters donate coats to Red Lake Kindergarten students

RED LAKE - Last year, Operation Warm gave away about 500 jackets. This year, they've more than doubled that with donations and fundraisers of over $60,000.00.

Most of the coats were distributed in the Anderson United Community School on the Minneapolis south side last year, and this year it was decided to to give coats to kids on an Indian Reservation, of which they chose Red Lake.

250 jackets were donated to kindergarten kids at the Early Childhood Center in Red Lake, of which 215 were distributed there, with the remaining going to the Ponemah School and St. Mary's Mission.

The coats were delivered to Red Lake by Operation Warm program director Justin Johnson, who is also a firefighter in Minneapolis.

In a previous article in September he had stated as firefighters they go into children's homes and sometimes see how little they have or the situation they are living in. Donating coats gave the firefighters the opportunity to pinpoint kids who were really in need of winter coats.

But beyond just providing warmth during the winter, the firefighters hoped a new coat would encourage students to attend school regularly and build self-esteem.

To date, Operation Warm has given new winter coats to over 1.4 MILLION children throughout America.

To learn more about Operation Warm, visit their website: http://www.operationwarm.org/