With overnight temperatures on the horizon as low as eleven degrees, hundreds of elementary aged children in Wilmington have received brand new winter coats.
Fly Advanced, an aviation company based at the New Castle County Airport, teamed with Operation Warm to present the coats to kids at the Community Education Building at 12th and French streets in Wilmington on Tuesday, January 25, 2022.
Operation Warm founder Dick Sanford said he never tires of seeing the joy on a child's face when they get a new coat.
"Sometimes this is the first thing that a child has gotten that's new, it's theirs, and their name gets put in it," said Sanford, who created Operation Warm in 1998.
Sanford said it's important to not only have organizations provide funding, but also to give them the opportunity to see the joy they provide.
"They see the light in these children's eyes, they witness this, how happy they are," said Sanford.
That's why Fly Advanced CEO Regis De Ramel not only brought his staff, but also his kids to the event.
"I think it's important for them to see what we can do for the community," said De Ramel. "I live in Delaware, not from Delaware, but I've been here for sixteen years, and I want to be able to give back.
Coats were made available for about 560 children.
"I think it's amazing to see the kids faces when they come in," said De Ramel. "They get to pick the color and they get to pick the style."
According to Sanford they'll hand out about 700,000 coats across the country this year bringing the operation's total to about five million since the organization's inception.
