South King County Professional Firefighters (IAFF Local 2024) and South King Firefighters Foundation recently provided children in Federal Way brand-new winter coats through their partnership with national non-profit, Operation Warm – Coats for Kids Foundation.

“Over 50 percent of children in the Federal Way school district are living at or below the poverty level,” stated Captain Ryan Herrera, IAFF Local 2024 president. “We really hope to make an impact in our community.”

Operation Warm is the largest non-profit distributor of new winter coats in the U.S. and has recently been endorsed by the International Association of Firefighters to launch their new program “Firefighters Coats for Kids.”

This new partnership encourages International Association of Firefighters members to spearhead local campaigns reaching children in the neighborhoods they serve and protect. Firefighters across the USA have joined forces with Operation Warm to keep children warm and support domestic manufacturing of 100 percent American-made coats. The community driven partners are committed to bringing jobs back to Americans and the impact on poverty is multi-dimensional.

More winter coats for disadvantaged children equates to more jobs for unemployed Americans.

This year, the firefighters distributed new winter coats to 100 kindergarten students attending Wildwood Elementary in Federal Way. Members of IAFF Local 2024 delivered the new coats in person, fit each child and helped them to write their names in the interior tag, which reads, “Made Especially for You.”

For more information on Operation Warm, visit www.operationwarm.org/firefighters.