Samantha Corson and Pam Junge on Operation Warm 2022: Providing Coats for Kids

At Stifel, we believe every child deserves to be warm when winter comes around.?That’s why we participate in Operation Warm every winter.

Participating in Operation Warm has become a beloved annual Stifel tradition.?Well over a hundred volunteers work together to get warm coats into the hands of children from our community.?It takes a lot of work and organizing (and coats!), but there’s nothing better than putting smiles on children’s faces.

To hear more about this year’s Operation Warm, I spoke with Samantha (Sam) Corson, Marketing Senior Associate, and Pam Junge of Stifel’s Operations department.

All About Operation Warm

Each year, Stifel gives coats to schools in the greater St. Louis area.?To spread the love and impact, we try only to revisit schools if at least three years have passed since our last coat drive there, and we always serve schools with a present need.

This year, over the course of two weeks in November, we visited eight schools we hadn’t yet worked with in previous years.

“We had around 140 volunteers from Stifel and ordered 179 boxes of coats,” Sam shares.?“We provided over 1,785 children in those eight schools with jackets and helped every child at each school, from the littlest to oldest.?We also handed out a pair of gloves to each child and a knapsack with a coloring activity book and a comic book to encourage financial literacy in children.”

While we originally wanted to focus on schools close to our downtown building, we found we had some extra coats and made additional deliveries to those in need.

“In addition to donating coats to those eight schools, we delivered a hundred coats to the East St. Louis School District, donated another hundred to the East St. Louis Firefighters’ coat drive, and gave some more coats to Russell Elementary in Hazelwood and the Barack Obama Elementary School,” Sam adds.?“We also donated coats to other charities Stifel partners with, such as Our Little Haven and Every Child’s Hope, to cover more areas in and around St. Louis.”

Pam, who has been involved with Operation Warm every year we have participated, reached out to children’s homes she has worked with over the last 27 years through another Stifel Community initiative, Giving Tree, to see if they needed coats.

“We were already planning on taking them toys for children in need, but they got so excited when I told them I also had coats,” she shares.?“It’s good to know that these coats will be put to use this winter.”

Bringing Operation Warm 2022 to Life

With a background in nonprofit events and fundraising, Sam was the perfect choice to organize everything.?Still, as you might imagine, coordinating the volunteers, the coat orders, and everything else wasn’t easy.?

“In my mind, it was like a mad dash,” Sam shares.?“I worked with eight different sets of school administrators, social workers, and principals to get a size estimate for every child in each school.”

Then, it was time to order the coats.?Luckily, supply chain issues were minimal, so the ordering process went smoothly this year, and she could focus on rallying the volunteers.

“I was so excited that pretty much every day was filled up by volunteers within the first three hours,” Sam shares.?“There’s always been such tremendous support for Operation Warm.?People really seem to respond to it.”

Then, all that remained was communicating with the volunteers and getting them ready for the day.?Shift leads like Pam Junge played a significant role in setting everything up in the morning and making sure everything ran smoothly.

Operation Warm 2022

“The volunteers were really phenomenal,” Sam says.?“Issuing an IOU when we don’t have the right size or color for a child is heartbreaking, but we only issued 21 IOUs for more than 1,800 students.?I was very excited that we had around a 1% IOU rate and were able to return that same day or just a few days later with the right coat.”

This year, we also took on a school with 400 students.?It was our largest school yet, and there was a slight hiccup at the start:?the power went out in half the building.?This meant some students had to go home, and the teachers needed to deal with the power outage while also setting up tables for Pam and her team.?But despite the power going out, the team still managed to size 400 kids in just three and a half hours!?

“It’s truly a credit to the administrators there and the team mentality of Stifel’s volunteers,” Sam reflects.

She also gives a lot of the credit to Pam, who set things up in the morning, handed out kids’ name tags, and more.?“Pam was my superstar that day and ensured the kids were organized as they came in.”

“As the class came up, I handed out their name tags and introduced the students to the volunteers.?This way, volunteers could easily write their names inside their coats,” Pam says.?“It was a really nice flow, and the name tags allowed volunteers to call the kids by their name and form that connection.?It makes the kids feel special and excited about what we’re doing.”

When I asked about favorite moments, Sam and Pam shared a particularly heartwarming story. “There was one girl who was a bit taller than her classmates, and we were trying to get her a jacket that was the right size.?She was choosing between two that she wasn’t super crazy about but would fit.?Then, I pulled out a purple one from a box for her, and her face lit up like the Rockefeller Tree.?It was the brightest, happiest smile, and she told Mary (who was helping her), ‘I don’t ever get stuff in pretty colors like this.?Purple is my favorite color!?I’m so happy!’?Then, she ran over to her friends to show them.”

Sam also received a stack of handwritten notes and plenty of hugs.?“This is the most rewarding experience I’ve had at Stifel, if not in my entire career,” she adds.

“After the students would get their coats, they would come back to me and wait for their teacher before returning to their classroom,” Pam shares.?“They were so happy to have the same color coats as their friends, and they would high-five me as they walked out.?It just makes you feel good.”

Giving Back Now and for Years to Come

This year was Stifel’s fifth year working with Operation Warm, and it has quickly become one of the highlights of the year.

“Stifel has a huge presence in the St. Louis area, and it’s important for us to drill down to a local level,” Sam says.?“We need to show that Stifel supports St. Louis in the smaller ways just as much as the big ones.?The St. Louis community is the backbone of our success, so we need to give back to them.”

Something as simple as giving a coat to a child in need can make a world of difference.

“The kids get so excited,” Pam says.?“One girl said, ‘I feel like Cinderella,’ when she received her coat.”

Giving back is an essential part of Stifel’s core values.?Employees have jumped at the opportunity to help with the Giving Tree for 27 years – people were so eager to give that we couldn’t keep ornaments on the tree because people were buying the gifts so fast – and we hope to participate in Operation Warm for years to come.?In fact, Sam is already thinking about next year’s efforts.

“We sent out a survey, and I’ve taken every single comment to heart,” Sam shares.?“I would love to see Operation Warm grow even more than it already has and continue improving the volunteer experience.”