E. Norriton, Pa., November 12, 2008 – The Auto Dealers CARing for Kids Foundation today announced its donation of 18,325 brand new winter coats to underprivileged children in the five-county region of Philadelphia. The coats will be distributed via more than 80 local beneficiaries, including social services agencies, YMCAs, homeless shelters, family service associations and more.
The donation total was made public at the closing ceremonies of the Foundation’s first-ever Driving Away the Cold program. The event took place at the Auto Dealers CARing for Kids Foundation headquarters in East Norriton. Dozens of local auto dealers were on-site to help deliver more than 1,000 boxes filled with brand new winter coats to the program’s respective recipients.
Driving Away the Cold is a signature program of the Auto Dealers CARing for Kids Foundation and Delaware County-based Operation Warm. It focuses on one simple but very important issue—providing brand new winter coats to underprivileged children in the Philadelphia region.
“A warm winter coat is one of the most requested items by schools and social services agencies in the Philadelphia area,” said Kevin Mazzucola, executive director of the Foundation. “More than 2.7 million children in our state alone are living without daily essentials like a warm winter coat. When we learned of this astonishing figure, we decided to get involved immediately.”
Last January, the Foundation kicked off its Driving Away the Cold program with a donation of 10,000 coats for Operation Warm to distribute this fall. In an effort to continue the giving, approximately 115 local auto dealers pledged one additional coat when a vehicle was sold at their dealership during the month of October. The total number of coats raised during the month-long program was 8,325, which is equivalent to nearly $125,000 of additional coats.
“We are overjoyed with the amount of support given to this program by our dealer members,” added Mazzucola. “Similar to other businesses, our dealers have experienced an increasingly challenging economic environment over the last several weeks. However, auto dealers have always been pillars of their communities and they have remained just that through this program. Their commitment to Driving Away the Cold and the issue that it focuses on is a true testament to their character.”
Operation Warm possesses the vision that every child wearing a winter coat is healthy, able to attend school regularly and has strong self-esteem. To learn more, please visit www.operationwarm.org.
Driving Away the Cold Coat Total Release
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