cfkcleveland

For the past 36 years, the Tour of Good Cheer has brought the spirit of Christmas and goodwill to over 100,000 underserved individuals and families within the greater Cleveland area on the Saturday before Christmas. Founded by Dick Clough, the Tour stops at 10 local agencies sharing essential items such as warm coats, scarves, gloves, various clothing items and much, much more.

In 2020, Coats for Kids partnered with the Tour, providing over 300 winter coats for distribution to the Cleveland community. Recently, Dick stopped by our Coats for Kids warehouse to present us with plaques showing their appreciation.

For more than three decades, the reach of the Tour has continued to grow in partnership with the Cleveland Police Athletic League. Coats for Kids looks forward to partnering with the Tour again in 2021.  To learn more, visit www.facebook.com/TourOfGoodCheer.

Coats for Kids’ Executive Director Debbie Martinko (right) is with Beaumont Senior Lydia Gattozzi.

Beaumont School Senior Lydia Gattozzi completed her “Points for Coats” fundraiser for Coats for Kids earlier this spring.

The final fundraising tally has now revealed that Lydia raised a grand total of just under $3,400!

Lydia, one of Beaumont’s leading basketball scorers, attained an outstanding 383 points during the regular and post-season. For her “Points for Coats” campaign, contributors made pledges for each point scored or flat donations to reach the $3,400.

Coats for Kids thanks the amazing athlete and human that is Lydia Gattozzi from the bottom of our hearts, and wishes you all the best next year at Canisius College.

We are so grateful for our long-time supporters Winking Lizard Tavern and their 2020 Beer Tourists. They recently contributed $3,200 to our organization. Rather than taking a jacket at the end of the Tour of Beers, some tourists elected to contribute to us. Thank you again for this amazing gift! The Winking Lizard has made an annual donation in conjunction with its World Tour of Beers for 10 years in a row, amounting to just shy of $57,000 contributed to Coats for Kids over the decade.

For the third year in a row, Coats for Kids has benefitted from the boundless generosity of Altar’d State and its shoppers. This year three local stores — Beachwood, Crocker Park and Akron/Summit — contributed a combined total of just under $9,000 to us from its #MissionMondays and their in-store donation collection campaign. During #MissionMondays, Altar’d State donates 10% of all sales that day during the fall/early winter timeframe to Coats for Kids. The Coats for Kids team was thrilled to accept checks from the three area stores. Our most heartfelt thanks go out to Altar’d State, their terrific employees and their loyal customers.

• 

• 

• 

Coats for Kids extends its deepest gratitude to Lydia Gattozzi, a senior and all-time high scoring basketball player at Beaumont School who just concluded her “Points for Coats” fundraiser for us.

Lydia created “Points for Coats” as her senior service project. Prior to the kickoff of the Beaumont Blue Streaks’ regular season in late November, she reached out to family, friends and families of her teammates to support her with either per-point or immediate donations.

Prior to her senior year, Lydia averaged 371 points per season, which is equivalent to about 15 points per game. She attained an impressive milestone in mid-January when she became the Beaumont basketball program’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing the previous record set in 2012.

Through a combination of pledges for points scored and flat donations, Lydia has raised nearly $2,500 so far. She scored an impressive 383 points during the regular and post-season which ended for Beaumont in its district semi-final game on February 24.

Check out the video below from WKYC Channel 3 – Cleveland. Thanks again, Lydia, we are so appreciative!

A huge thank you to Chick-fil-A for supporting us this year by selling $1 luminaries every Friday, Saturday & Sunday from 11/27 through 12/27 during the Wild Winter Lights At Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. During this event, guests had the opportunity to purchase $1 luminaries at the Chick-Fil-A tent near the carousel & Stillwater Place. On the luminary, supporters got to write their own message and help Chick-Fil-A & Coats for Kids spark hope and light the way this holiday season! We raised $7,471.97 that will go directly to purchasing warm winter coats for kids in Northeast Ohio. We extend a heartfelt thank you to Chick-Fil-A and all the wonderful volunteers who helped make this event such a success!

• 

• 

• 

• 

Thank you, thank you, thank you to UnitedHealthcare, Denzel Ward and the Dreambuilders Foundation for making it possible for all students at Marion C. Seltzer School to have a new winter coat.

• 

• 

Wow! Coats for Kids is overwhelmed by your generosity. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the Discount Drug Mart customers who purchased paper coats, to all of the dedicated Discount Drug Mart employees who were ambassadors for the Paper Coat Campaign, and to our fantastic friends in Marketing at Discount Drug Mart. This $61,193 check truly is a gift during this holiday season. — a gift that will keep on giving for all of the new winter coats we’ll be able to buy for northeast Ohio kids. 

•