CHA, Operation Warm team to give kids free winter coats
Project, in its 13th year, adjusts to virus regulations
For Louis Johnson, 51, this week’s gift of a new pink winter coat for his 5- year- old daughter, Laniyah, came at just the right time.
With Chicago’s winter nearing, Johnson had known Laniyah needed a new coat after outgrowing her old one, he said. But in the economic fallout of COVID-19, funds were hard to come by.
“Every penny counts now,” Johnson said Wednesday in a phone interview after picking up the new coat, adding that Laniyah would have “a big smile” on her face upon seeing it.
Laniyah was one of about 7,500 children in Chicago public housing or discounted, rented housing who will be given a free coat at the Credit Union 1 Arena on the city’s Near West Side. The giveaway is part of the Chicago Housing Authority’s partnership with Operation Warm, a national nonprofit that distributes new coats to children in need.
Though this marks the CHA’s 13th year distributing the coats, the COVID-19 pandemic required significant adjustments. Rather than being held over four hours inone day, as itwas in previous years, the coat distribution spans four consecutive days, starting Wednesday. The 3,000 families who signed up had to preregister, and one person per family signed up for a specific time to pick up the coats.
“For a while I was like, I don’t know how we can move forward with Operation Warm,” said Kristen Hamer, the CHA’s director of corporate and external partnerships. “And just as quickly I saidwe have to do it over multiple days.”
This year was the first time Johnson participated in the program, after financial setbacks caused by the pandemic. He was able to choose the color of the coat, and his daughter “wants pink everything.”
“I know a lot of people that weren’t part of the program that wished they were,” Johnson said.
Operation Warm was launched 20 years ago after a business owner near Philadelphia saw a small group of kids waiting at a bus stop on a cold day without coats, Hamer said.
The organization expanded and was brought to Chicago 13 years ago, where it partnered with the CHA. Since then, the annual distribution in Chicago has become Operation Warm’s largest single event, according to Hamer.
“It’s really an event they’ve not quite replicated any place else just because of the capacity thatwe have here at the CHA,” Hamer said.
In previous years, the coat distribution was held in conjunction with a service fair during which families could receive other free items — such as lightbulbs or books — but the fair was canceled this year because of the pandemic.
Even with the cancellation, families were given lightbulbs and other resources Wednesday as they picked up their coats. The items and coats were new and paid for by several sponsors, including PepsiCo, Comcast, ComEd, Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois, Pangea Real Estate, Nan McKay & Associates and Wells Fargo.
Hamer said the CHA realized the need for winter coats was even greater than usual this year. That became clear when it took only about two weeks for families to sign up for all of them. In previous years, it took about five weeks before the coats were all spoken for.
Tracey Scott, CEO of the CHA, said the pandemic has taken a major toll on the families in public housing. The necessities of life extend beyond housing — making sure children have coats “is just something that’s so basic and essential.”
“There’s nothing like it,” Scott said. “We can sit in an office all day and make these things happen, but when you see a child’s face when they receive a new coat or a new toy or a new anything, for many of these kids, this might be the first time that they’ve received a new coat. … That’s a really important thing in their growth, that someone believes in them and someone wants them to have this.”
Christina Gonzalez, 51, collected two coats Wednesday for her grandchildren, ages 12 and 13. She said the pickup was easy and quick, and she was thankful for the items, since “a lot of things right now” are expensive.
“There’s a lot of families struggling and they can’t afford to buy their children coats so thatwas a big help,” Gonzalez said in a phone interview. “Right now I don’t have time to be looking in the stores.”
Rasshida Davey, 34, plans to get four coats Saturday for her children, aged 8, 10, 12 and 13. A full-time student at Kennedy-King College, Davey said programs like Operation Warm go far interms of giving her “one less thing” to worry about.
“It can be stressful,” Davey said. “Sometimes we just can’t help but to worry about things, like how are we going to do this?”