"A Coat To Keep The Cold Away" Has Now Provided Over 10,000 Brand New Coats For Kentucky Children!

After months of hard work from our volunteers and community partners, we have finally concluded our 6th annual "A Coat To Keep The Cold Away" youth coat drive! This year we collected and gave away over 2,700 brand new coats to Kentucky children in need. We have now given away over 10,000 brand new coats in the last 6 years, worth more than a quarter of a million dollars. Here are my thoughts on this year's drive! 

"This year marked the 6th straight year we set out to provide FREE brand new coats for children in need in central & eastern Kentucky through our "A Coat To Keep The Cold Away" youth coat drive. I initially started this program when I saw young children standing at local school bus stop in below freezing temperatures without coats. Before being judgmental of these kids' parents, like many of us are when we see things like this, I immediately thought back to my time as a single father struggling day to day to make ends meet for my household. Luckily I had transportation, 2 jobs, a few side hustles, and people in my life that lent a helping hand. But what about those families who are in between jobs or dealing with a different set of circumstances and don't have people in their corner? So instead of complaining about the growing number of kids' walking around with no coats, I decided to get active and be the change I wanted to see. “

“Over the last 6 years we've seen our coat drive grow from 70 coats a year to children in Lexington to nearly 3,000 coats a year to children all over the state. Being a small, local nonprofit we've struggle securing enough donations each year to match our goal. In years past, I followed the voice of God and engaged in personal sacrifice in order to raise more awareness for our initiative. I was successful in doing so but not without personal sacrifice. 2 years ago I performed outside in the cold for 48 hours straight which helped us to raise over $10,000 but also resulting in me getting frost bite in my foot and getting permanent nerve damage in one of my toes. Then last year, I had a couple of close calls with death by semi truck as I walked from Lexington to Morehead on the highway at night, in an effort to raise more awareness for the coat drive. Needless to say, my family was relived when I told them that despite struggling for donations again this year, God's message to me was "patience" and "collaboration". So instead of engaging in personal sacrifice, I wrote letters, made phone calls, sent emails and started building relationships. We partnered with over 20 businesses year including State Farm, Macy's, 107.9 The Beat, The Cellar Bar & Grille, Champs Entertainment Complex, Meijer, Walmart, Lexington Blue, Pain & Wellness Group, local middle grade schools and more! We adjusted our approach to be more inclusive and interactive which increased community engagement. We saw a drop off from our core support group (minority owned business, Greek organizations, and churches), but God more than made up for that with an increase in new partnerships. This year we collected more coats and had more volunteers than the any year previously. Though we fell a little over 100 coats shy of our goal, we still delivered over 2,700 brand new winter coats to children in need and every school that requested coats received some! I’m so excited to see this part of our ministry continue to grow and I can’t wait to see what God does next year! “

Here is a complete lists of our partnerships & a few of our biggest donors this year:

-Josiah Clay (EJ Hayes Student Council President)-Pain & Wellness Group-Western Elementary School in Scott County - SRC LEXINGTON -Macy’s -The Cellar Bar & Grill -HOOD Student Leadership Group at Madison Central High School-Wardens Watch Comic -UK AD CLUB -Saddlebrook at Tates Creek Apartments-Apostles Vincent & April Morris of Restorer of Paths International Ministries -Whitaker Foundation -Kinkead & Stilz -Champs Entertainment Complex -Brett Construction Company -Gauls -Walmart -Meijer -Bethany Hicks at State Farm -LEXINGTON Blue-The Plantory-107.9 The Beat-Kiss 106.3-JK-47 Studios-PrintLex-West Sixth Brewery-Al's Bar-The Burl-Black Student Union at Lafayette High School Woodford County High School