The Sharing Shelf, Westchester's Clothing Bank for Children, is piloting a Coats for Schools program which aims to provide an inventory of winter coats for schools to keep on hand in case they identify a student who needs one.

In addition to making students more susceptible to the common cold and the discomfort of low temperatures, the lack of a warm coat may contribute to low self-esteem and missing school. This initiative allows a school social worker, nurse, or psychologist to provide a coat as soon as the need for it becomes apparent.  The Sharing Shelf will provide schools with a limited number of coats in a range of sizes, appropriate for boys and girls, determined by the need in their student body and their storage availability.

We first want to identify which schools are willing and able to participate in the program. We plan to pilot this program with a small number of schools this year, with hopes to expand it in the future.