Warm, fuzzy feeling
Donated coats help keep 300 OKC students warm
Heriberto Perez received an unexpected round of applause Thursday morning when he walked into Andrena Lanman’s kindergarten class at Westwood Elementary School.
Heriberto was still wearing the colorful winter coat he picked out several minutes earlier.
“We decided we would celebrate the kids who got new coats,” Lanman said.
The coats, about 150 of them, were donated to the school’s neediest students by Dell Inc. The computer company’s $5,000 donation covered the purchase of 300 winter coats for children at Westwood and Rockwood elementary schools in the Oklahoma City district.
“It’s extremely important that we have help,” said Rick Brown, Westwood’s interim principal. “State funding has been cut so drastically that there’s no way the schools can provide everything that needs to be provided for these children.
“So many of them come from an atmosphere of deep poverty. They’ll come to school with no coat on and shorts, in the middle of the winter even. In order to keep these illnesses down and to help these families out ... it’s a huge help for us to have donors like Dell.”
Charles Lester, who manages Dell’s networking team in Oklahoma City, handed out coats along with several company workers.
“One of the main reasons I love working at Dell is all the giving that we get the opportunity to be a part of,” he said. “I’ve been excited all week waiting to do this, because I know what’s going to happen when I see the kids and that’s the important thing.”
Third-graders Dilan Marquez, 8, and Josiah Stevenson, 9, were all smiles.
“I’m excited because I like it and it keeps me warm when I’m cold, Dilan said of his new light blue coat.
Josiah selected a long black model. Each donated coat included hoods that fasten under the chin.
“Black’s my favorite color,” he said. “At home, I really don’t have a jacket. I have a jacket, but not one like this. It’s puffy. I like puffy.”
Iylene Orozco, 9, wore a pink and light blue number that came down to her knees.
“I like the colors and it looks really nice,” she said. “I can stretch in it and it’s not too tight.”
Superintendent Aurora
Lora and members of the Thunder Girls greeted students and handed out compliments.
“When winter comes, we just want to make sure every child is warm, and that no child is left standing out at a bus stop in freezing cold temperatures,” Lora said.
Many kids didn’t want to take off their outerwear even though the building temperature hovered around 70 degrees. Something about that new coat feel and smell.
Heriberto wasn’t very talkative. His smile, though, spoke volumes.
“I like it because I like it,” he said.