Police coat drive garners 450 coats for Licking County kids

An anonymous donation to a Licking County nonprofit helped provide 450 coats to elementary-age children ahead of Christmas.

According to Jamie Wright, of Starfish Assignment of Licking County, their nonprofit sought to tackle an issue placed on officers' hearts often and discovered coats to be a frequent wishlist item for officers and deputies. The nonprofit aims to bridge the gap between Licking Countians and their law enforcement officers.

"In the beginning, it was where do we get funds for coats? In years' past, we've only been able to purchase or gather about 25 coats or so per department," Wright explained. "This year, one day I went to the mailbox and got the mail. We had a substantial donation - completely anonymous."

Wright said their organization was able to buy 450 coats, which was recently distributed to five law enforcement agencies in Licking County - police departments from Newark, Heath, Pataskala, Reynoldsburg, and the Licking County Sheriff's Office.

"Our mission as an organization is to partner with law enforcmeent officers to help them help others. That was always on their hearts, when they see kids with a need for coats, they want to be able to provide them," Wright said. "This mean a ton because we were able to do this before Christmas break, before it got into January and super cold. Every child deserves a warm coat. For me personally, that was very important to me."

According to Heath Police Chief Dave Haren, their department is working with area elementary schools to determine students in need.

"It's just an awesome way to assist the community in a super positive manner. Starfish Assignment is an incredible asset to us, creating those positive impacts we want to have," Haren said. "We often respond to negative situations for families. Any time we can give back to the community is great for us."

In a Facebook post, the Licking County Sheriff's Office said they're honored by the coat donations from Starfish Assignment Licking County.

"With the donations, we were able to provide local schools with a supply of winter coats for those in need," the agency said, including photos of their deputies dropping off coats to area schools.

Wright said the participating law enforcement agencies were either partnering with elementary schools within their jurisdictions to find homes for the coats, or distributing them at their Christmas events with students. Last week, Newark Division of Police distributed winter coats to each child at their Cops & Kids shopping event.

To make a donation to Starfish Assignment of Licking County or for more information, visit their website or email lcsupport@starfishassignment.org.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Police coat drive garners 450 coats for Licking County kids