On December 10 and 11, a late-season tornado outbreak swept through Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky, causing catastrophic damage including 90 fatalities.
Areas in rural Kentucky received the most devastating damage. Hundreds of people lost their homes and thousands were without heat. In many of the impacted areas, people were already living in extreme poverty before the terrible storms and were in desperate need of warmth.
One Warm Coat mobilized immediately to share warmth with individuals and families in need. Our nonprofit partners in the impacted areas asked us to send coats, gloves, and hats for them to distribute, and in addition we received a special request for women’s leggings – a warm item that’s easier to distribute and wear than jeans.
Our incredible friends at CuddlDuds, Lands’ End, Nobis, ThredUp, Turtle Fur, and Crystal Mountain Ski and Ride School answered the call for help and began shipping the much needed items to One Warm Coat’s nonprofit partners in Kentucky and Missouri.
In total, more than 2,000 items were shipped to the impacted areas, including 550 coats and more than 1,500 assorted leggings, fleece pullovers, socks, hats, gloves, and blankets. The donated items were distributed through four One Warm Coat partners within two weeks time.
Debra from Hope 2 All in Drakesboro, KY, told us “We appreciate this so very much. We’ve just finished distributing everything. Yesterday a young man who lost everything in the tornado received one of the blankets and he was so appreciative. He said he had nothing and now he has a blanket that was just his”.
Rosemary from Buchanan Foundation in St. Louis, MO, wrote “Thank you for the 12 boxes of warm items, we are getting everything distributed. I’m overwhelmed with emotion to say the least.”
Troy from Christ Tabernacle Church in Princeton, KY, said “Thank you for your partnership, you guys are amazing!”
One Warm Coat is incredibly grateful to CuddlDuds, Lands’ End, ThredUp, Turtle Fur and Crystal Mountain Ski and Ride School for the generous donations that enabled One Warm Coat to share much-needed warmth in Kentucky and Missouri.