Our New Coat Program started in 2008 and has a simple mission: we provide brand-NEW winter coats for impoverished children in the five-county Philadelphia region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties). You're probably asking, why did I stress NEW?? That's because NEW is important. For a child who is used to hand-me-downs, sharing a coat with a sibling or going without a new coat supercharges their self-esteem and makes them feel special and important.

We have heard countless stories of siblings alternating which days they go to school when it’s bitter cold out based on whose day it is to wear their shared winter coat. There have been hundreds of times when we have handed a brand-new coat to a child and they have handed it back to us (after they have tried it on for size) not realizing its theirs to keep. Elated by the realization that it is theirs and it’s brand-new, these children proudly grab a nearby marker and write their names on the interior “This coat is owned by” tag. It is within those moments that one can see that this is more than just a coat to the recipient, and that this program is incredibly important for a variety of reasons.