4th Annual 'Firefighters Coats For Kids' Looking To Reach New Goal
PITTSBURGH (KDKA)- Hundreds and hundreds of winter coats, all different sizes and colors and all brand new.
Children from all over the city of Pittsburgh were able to select a new coat, plus gloves and a hat. It was all thanks to firefighter as they held the 4th annual "Firefighters Coats for Kids."
"In the wintertime, you're seeing kids that are maybe wearing extra sweatshirts on, something like that, so we wanted to be able to find a way to be able to reach out to each one of the children in the community," said Pittsburgh Fire Fighters President Ralph Sicuro.
The program focuses on helping local elementary school-aged students and Sicuro says that it begins with the school districts.
"We go work through the school district and we're able to find the kids that are in need and make sure we get all their sizes correctly."
Money for the coats comes from fundraisers and donations collected by the firefighters union. Last year, they handed out 2,200 coats. This year, the goal is 2,500.
"Sometimes, this is the first time they've ever had something that's brand new that wasn't passed down from one of their bigger brothers or bigger sisters. So, it's a nice warm surprise for us to see their reaction and they're very grateful every time. We've gotten thank-you cards from the kids over the years," said Sicuro.
In addition to this distribution event, the coats will be handed out in Pittsburgh Public Schools and Wilkinsburg.
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