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Little Rock firefighters, Entergy Arkansas partner to help kids through 'Operation Warm'
08/01/2023
Each year, Entergy Arkansas partners with Little Rock International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 34 to choose one or more elementary schools and provide each student at the school a new winter coat. Dubbed Operation Warm, the project raised enough funds to provide 800 coats to students in December 2022.
“’We Power Life’ is more than a tagline about providing electricity,” said Laura Landreaux, president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas. “We make it a part of our company’s culture to support the communities we serve, which is also where we live, work, raise our families and more. Helping meet the needs of children and showing how much we care about their well-being helps them grow as adults into strong, healthy, community leaders. It’s truly an honor and a joy to be part of this effort.”
Operation Warm is a national nonprofit that manufactures high-quality coats and shoes for children in need. The coats are designed and manufactured by the nonprofit to be long-wearing, water repellent and machine washable, with a warm fleece lining, deep pockets to keep little hands warm even without gloves, and detachable hoods. They come in sizes 2T to adult. Since 1998, the organization has provided 5 million coats to kids in need across the United States.
The IAFF Union 34 began working with the national nonprofit several years ago after seeing a group of young children shivering at a school bus stop near their firehouse. Firefighters make individual payroll-deduction contributions throughout the year to help fund to the program.
“Helping people during times of trouble is our job, but it’s also part of who we are,” said IAFF Union 34 Vice President Matthew Stallings. “We work year-round to support this program, and the last few weeks have been a concerted effort with Entergy and the Little Rock School District to determine the needs of the students and organize the coats for distribution. It’s worth any effort, though, to see those smiling faces as we do what we can to help children in our community weather the cold.”
These contributions, with the support of a $10,000 grant from Entergy Arkansas allowed the firefighters to purchase 800 new coats for children at Rockefeller and Romine Early Childhood Centers and Gibbs Magnet Elementary in December 2022. The students went home for their holiday break with their new coats, just in time for cold temperatures and winter weather.
Firefighters work with the Little Rock School District to determine which schools participate in the program, based on the needs of the students there. Then they determine the number of coats needed, gather the sizes and gender of the students, order the coats, and organize them for delivery. Entergy Arkansas volunteers join the firefighters for distribution of the coats to the students.
Entergy Arkansas donations total $75,000 in the last eight years, helping students at 12 different schools in the Little Rock School District. Hundreds of students have benefited from this generous commitment to and investment in our community.
Entergy Arkansas President and CEO Laura Landreaux said, “While Entergy Arkansas supports Operation Warm with funding and volunteers, the Little Rock Fire Fighters Union 314 members make individual donations and spearhead the effort by contacting the schools to determine the number of coats needed, the sizes and gender of the students, ordering the coats and organizing them for delivery.
“Our charitable foundation works with partners year-round and across the state to better our communities through grants and volunteerism, and this event is one of our favorites each year,” she concluded.
