Moses Lake firefighters hand out winter coats to students in need

MOSES LAKE — You don’t need to turn on the nightly news or consult the little weather forecaster in your phone to know that it is bone-chillingly cold outside. The need for a good, warm winter coat shows itself when you step outside into frigid temperatures. With that need in mind, the Moses Lake Firefighters Local 1258 delivered 120 warm winter coats to children in need on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s outreach was a part of Operation Warm and saw firefighters deliver coats to first-graders at Midway, Peninsula, Knolls Vista, North, Larson and Longview elementary schools. The money to purchase the coats was donated to the Local 1258 from the Moses Lake Education Association, Moses Lake Industries and the Moses Lake Firefighters Benevolent Fund, according to firefighter Pat Heeren.

Operation Warm is the brainchild of Pennsylvania entrepreneur and philanthropist Richard Stanford, who founded the outreach in 1998. Operation Warm comes alongside a variety of different foundations, community organizations, corporations and individual sponsors to make sure the American-made coats go to children that need them the most.

“We have about a little over 20 extra coats we are going to distribute as needed,” Heeren told the Moses Lake city council Tuesday night. “So if you guys know anybody that has young children, probably between the ages of 5 and 8, have them contact the fire department and we might have a few coats for them.”

For more information contact the Moses Lake Fire Department at 509-765-2204.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.