North students donate winter coats

Photo

Neighbors | Sarah Foor .North Principal Tracy Kashak asked her students to donate gently used coats during the week of Dec. 16 in a drive that was dubbed "Operation Stay Warm." By Dec. 14, the students collected 20 coats, which North students Anthony Weimer (back left), Braedan Pitrone, Vince Lattanzio (front left), and Kylie Ozenghar proudly helped show off.

By SARAH FOOR

sfoor@vindy.com

At the start of each week, during the morning announcements, North principal Tracy Kashak offers her students a task to accomplish during the next five days.

Kashak’s “random acts of kindness” tasks aim to teach the students about seeing the importance in small gestures.

During her Dec. 12 morning announcements, Kashak told her students to search their house for old winter coats to donate. The coat collection drive, nicknamed “Operation Stay Warm,” was the idea of North PTO secretary Lisa Weimer.

“I have a friend that works at a Trumbull County school and he would tell me about the students he saw coming to school in thin spring jackets or no coats at all. All the coats collected here at North will go to the students at that school,” explained Weimer.

Weimer and Kashak stressed that the project was an act of responsible recycling.

“The donated coats are ones students grew out of or are not using anymore. They’re the kind that might be donated to Goodwill a few years from now, but instead are being given to a great cause,” Weimer said.

By Dec. 15, only three days into the week, students had already collected 20 coats.

“It’s been a great show of giving by the kids,” Kashak said of the collection.