FedEx gifts more than 200 coats to Milwaukee students
Students at Albert E. Kagel School received a free winter coat from FedEx and Operation Warm right in time for the cold temperatures
Students at Albert E. Kagel School received a free winter coat from FedEx and Operation Warm right in time for the cold temperatures
Students at Albert E. Kagel School received a free winter coat from FedEx and Operation Warm right in time for the cold temperatures
FedEx made a special delivery to Milwaukee students Thursday morning.
The company gifted more than 200 new winter coats to students at Albert E. Kagel School in the Walker's Point neighborhood.
FedEx's Drive Forward, Give Back campaign has partnered with Operation Warm, a national non-profit organization since 2008, to provide kids in need with warm coats and shoes.
Operation Warm manufactures the items and FedEx hand-delivers them to schools across the United States and Canada.
About a dozen FedEx employees from the greater Milwaukee area volunteered Thursday to help students at Kagel School find the perfect coat. The kids were then given a bag full of food to take home for the weekend through Blessings in a Backpack.
"They melt my heart," FedEx employee Lynn Scharf said. "They're just so sweet, and the fact that we're giving them food for the weekend just makes me feel so good."
A spokesperson for FedEx says schools are picked based on their need, measured in part by the percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. According to MPS records, 100% of students at Kagel School qualify.
"As a principal, it really warms my heart just to see the smiles on the kids every time they get a new jacket. It's just happiness," principal Juan Mejia said Thursday.
Hours after receiving the coats, students were already putting them to use as they embraced the cold temperatures on the playground.
Throughout the 15-year partnership, FedEx and Operation Warm have provided more than one million new jackets to kids in need across the U.S. and Canada.