“Mom, she needed a coat!”
. . . the Coat-A-Kid story

Coat-A-Kid has been coating kids in the St. Louis area since 2001. We began when a third grader reported to her mom that a girl in her class did not have a coat to wear out on the playground on a cold November day, and as she said, “Mom, she needed a coat!” A coat, hat and gloves were purchased and given to the school counselor to give to the student in need of the items. It was then discovered that there are hundreds of children in all areas of St. Louis who do not have warm winter coats to wear. more . . .

These are kids who stand at bus stops on cold winter mornings or walk to and from school — not like my kids who go from a heated home, to a heated car to a heated school. Some people say, “my kid has a coat that she refuses to wear,” but if your daughter were standing at a bus stop on a frigid morning with no coat, hat or gloves, and if she had a coat, she’d be wearing it. Many of these children do not have central heating in their home, and use the coats that you help us collect or purchase, as a layer of warmth while in their home and while sleeping.

We have coated over 6,200 kids since November 2001

Since June 2010, Coat-A-Kid has been fortunate to be using warehouse space donated by Color Art Integrated Interiors at 1325 N. Warson Road. This has allowed us to spread out, encouraging more volunteers to participate in the process of sorting, sizing, packing orders and delivering coats. We could not be more grateful to Color Art.