Every child at Framingham’s Brophy Elementary School received a brand new winter coat this past Monday.
Throughout the day, classes were called to the gymnasium where volunteers helped students; from Kindergarten to fifth grade, choose coats of their very own. Students stretched their arms to the sky and hugged themselves to make sure the coats fit properly. More than 400 coats were given away to Brophy students by Monday afternoon.
This initiative was collaborated, supported, and directed by a combination of partnerships including JFS of Metrowest, the national nonprofit, Operation Warm, TJX Company, and Framingham Public Schools (FPS).
Facilitated by this collaboration of partners, Brophy became the most recent setting for Operation Warm’s “More Than A Coat” program, advocated for by Lino Covarrubias, our Chief Operating Officer at JFS. Operation Warm has been creating and distributing high-quality coats for children in need, no questions asked, for 20 years. Since 1998, they’ve given nearly 3 million coats to children around the country.
JFS of Metrowest’s partnership with Operation Warm is directly linked to the expansion of our Children’s Clothing Closet project. Our friends at TJX were Operation Warm funders and volunteers at this event. All of these collaborators, including the Framingham Public School system with Superintendent Robert Tremblay, act as key partners in accelerating approaches and programs that work to improve equity among low-income students in our community, many of whom come from immigrant families.
This event is one example of the very concrete ways that Jewish Family Service of Metrowest is promoting social, economic, and educational equity within our community.
The gift of a new coat or new clothing promotes confidence that used or hand-me-down clothes do not. Brophy students were able to choose their favorite colors and styles of coats, enabling them to feel proud and worthy.
JFS staff, donors, and volunteers are proud to be a part of this initiative, it is a perfect example of what JFS strives to be; staff driven, volunteer powered, and community invested.
To read more about this event and the JFS Clothing Closet Project, visit the following links: