Pocatello Firefighters Union gives coats away to disadvantaged children

POCATELLO (KPVI) — A number of Gate City children are feeling a little cozier in the cold weather today.

The added warmth is thanks to the Pocatello Firefighters Union and Operation Warm. The national nonprofit creates coats in the U.S. and delivers them to volunteer organizations across the country. Operation Warm has been working with the Pocatello Firefighters Union for five years.

This year, the union delivered coats to kids at Lincoln Head Start and at Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 elementary schools. Firefighters made sure every coat fit every child perfectly, and wrote their names along with the words “made just for you” on the coat’s tag.

Firefighters running the event say sometimes when they’re called to a house for an emergency, they see kids outside with no coats on.

“A lot of times, as the driver I stay out by the truck,” Pocatello Fire Department operator Jason Whitcomb said. “So I tend to kind of hang out with these families a little bit while everybody else is inside the house checking for everything. And it’s happened more than once where I’ve asked a kid, ‘why didn’t you bring a coat out?’ and their response is, ‘well I don’t have a good coat.’ And so, seeing this, it’s pretty powerful how much of an impact just something like a coat can have on a child’s life.”

Other partners included Portneuf Auxiliary, ICCU, Sugarbugs Dental, and Citizens Community Bank.

This article was originally published by KPVI. It is used here with permission.