Big Donation Means Every Child At One OKC School Gets A Winter Coat

Love’s Travel Stops made a big donation Monday to some Oklahoma City students who do not have a winter coat.

It may be Thanksgiving, but students at Ridgeview Elementary School said it felt like Christmas.

“It just makes you feel special,” said third-grader Dezmond Constantine.

“I just felt so happy,” said first-grader Kennedy Benton.

Love's Travel Stops donated 348 coats to Ridgeview to make sure every child at Ridgeview Elementary took home a brand new coat.

“It's like you're touching a sheep,” said first-grader Yennie Ayala.

Ninety percent of Oklahoma City Public Schools families live at or below the poverty line

Many of the families could not afford a winter coat this year without this generous donation.

“It like made me feel happy inside, because I never got a free coat,” said third-grader Elizabeth Johnson.

Ayala said she has outgrown her old winter coats.

“The rest of the coats when I was three, it fit me, but now that I'm seven they don't fit me anymore,” Ayala said.

Love’s Travel Stops spokesperson Kealey Dorian said this was a great way for the company to kick off Thanksgiving week.

“Every student who has to walk to school or even is just playing outside this winter, will be warm thanks to the donation today,” Dorian said.

Love's donation is part of Operation Warm, an effort to provide more than 7,000 students in the district with warm coats this year.

“It's nice and when you put your hoodie on when it's winter time, you can cover your face like this,” Constantine told News 9.

The classmates said they cannot wait to bundle up with their new gifts.

“I just feel very, very special because that's what we should feel,” Benton said.

Love's adopted Ridgeview Elementary this year and volunteers also mentor students by reading with them each week.