What’s Right With Our Schools: Operation Warm

HARRISON, TN (WDEF) – With cooler temperatures settling in, a heavy Winter Coat is essential. Chattanooga Gas is providing 200 high quality jackets to Hamilton County Students.

Paul Leath is the Regional Director of Operations for Chattanooga Gas.

He says, “We are very excited to be out at Harrison Elementary today. We, at Chattanooga Gas, are here to present 100 jackets to the elementary school children, in partnership with Operation Warm, which is a 501 C3 nonprofit, that provides these beautiful high-quality jackets for students in need. Our corporation decided that this was something that we wanted to be involved with and give back to our communities. And so each of our gas utilities in Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia will be donating at least 100 jackets. Here in Chattanooga we are able to do 200 jackets.

Kennisha Cann is the Assistant Principal at Harrison Elementary.

She adds, “So many times we may see kids in the morning come out without a jacket. And like you said before, these are unprecedented times and families are struggling. So it is a blessing for Chattanooga Gas to come with jackets in order to help our kids to perform in school.”

Vice President of Atlanta Gas Light and Chattanooga Gas Tiffany Callaway says, “The fact is that they will give some of these coats to kids in need, and they will have some left in case there is a child who transfers in, or comes in and doesn’t have it. So the fact is, what I appreciate about Hamilton county schools is that they understand the wraparound services that children need.”

Jennifer Brownlee is the Principal at Harrison Elementary.

She says, “We believe that children should be able to spend as much time outside learning and playing as much as they spend inside in the classroom, and during the colder winter months, that’s a real challenge for many of our students.

Paul concludes, “We do plan to do this, and hopefully around this time next year, maybe a little earlier before it gets real cold, we’ll be back to do it again and partner with the Hamilton County Department of Education on which schools. It could be Harrison again we don’t know, but we will go where the need is.”