Give the Gift of Warmth: How You Can Help Children This Winter

Each year, Operation Warmth seeks to provide new winter coats to students in need in Cobb County and Marietta City Schools. Your donations to the Barbara Hickey Children’s Fund make this effort possible. This year the need is great – over 1,400 coats have already been requested. Want to know how you can help?

Coats are an expensive item that often need to be repurchased year after year as children continue to grow. Even if a family can afford a coat one year, they may have no choice but for their child to go without the next. Operation Warmth works directly with school guidance counselors and office staff to fill the exact coat needs of our local schools. By giving new coats to children, we’re boosting confidence and self-esteem, enabling health and wellbeing, and keeping kids in school.

Here’s how you can help:

• Donate to the Barbara Hickey Children’s Fund. All funds received will be used to purchase coats specific to the students’ needs.
• Purchase new winter coats and drop them off at Cobb EMC by December 16 – Cobb EMC has offered its office space to help facilitate this year’s collection. You may bring coat donations to the donation boxes located in Cobb EMC’s Payment Center, located at 1000 EMC Parkway NE, Marietta, GA 30060, any time during their normal business hours through December 16. New winter coats are needed for both girls and boys in all children’s sizes. Some requests for older students have also come in for this year, so juniors and young adult sizes XS-4XL are also accepted.

The current needs for this year’s effort are shown below (as of 11/20/2024):

Questions? Email the organizers of Operation Warmth at cobboperationwarmth@gmail.com.