BNY Mellon and Operation Warm Join Forces with Cradles to Crayons to Help Local Youth This Winter
Unique cross-organization collaboration creates a greater impact in the fight to keep children safe and warm
BOSTON, MA—NOVEMBER 25, 2014—Because of the combined efforts of BNY Mellon, Cradles to Crayons, and Operation Warm, nearly 3,000 Massachusetts children will be bundled up in warm coats this winter as part of Cradles to Crayons’ “Gear Up for Winter” initiative.
BNY Mellon, a global leader in investment management and investment services, provided Operation Warm with a $50,000 grant to purchase coats for Cradles to Crayons and supplemented its donation with more than 200 new coats that its New England employees collected during a regional coat drive. Operation Warm, a nonprofit organization dedicated to countering the lack of adequate winter clothing for children in poverty, frequently collaborates with organizations like Cradles to Crayons utilizing the financial support of companies like BNY Mellon.
”Our philanthropic focus is on helping people by concentrating on the provision of basic needs, and we’re committed to helping our community partners make sure their populations stay connected to critical programs and services,” said Briana Curran, Vice President, Charitable Giving, BNY Mellon. “Given that we also have an emphasis on helping vulnerable youth, it was particularly gratifying to partner with Cradles to Crayons and Operation Warm to help local children prepare for winter.”
“Cradles to Crayons continues to be a favorite volunteer destination for our employees, who regularly volunteer at Giving Factory events and the annual Backpack-a-Thon,” added Curran. “It’s a great organization doing important work, and we’re happy to support their Gear Up for Winter initiative.” BNY Mellon is a long-time partner of Cradles to Crayons, having donated over $100,000 since 2009.
“BNY Mellon and Operation Warm are leading by example by joining together to support “Gear up for Winter,” which will provide more than 18,000 Massachusetts children with winter essentials, including coats,” said Sharon Reilly, Executive Director for Cradles to Crayons. “The total coat collection, yielding nearly 3,000, will help us to reach our goal to fulfill the 18,000 requests for winter coats expected this season.”
Operation Warm, Inc. is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit providers of new winter coats to children in need. To date, Operation Warm has served over 1.4 million children across 42 states. For more information visit: www.operationwarm.org.
BNY Mellon partners with nonprofits to improve the social and economic conditions where it does business and in the communities where its employees live and work. Learn more about the company’s world-wide commitment to social responsibility at www.bnymellon.com/csr.
Cradles to Crayons is a nonprofit organization with locations in Boston and Philadelphia that provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive—at home, at school, and at play. Cradles to Crayons supplies these items free of charge by engaging and connecting communities that have with communities that need, collecting new and like-new children’s items through grassroots community drives and corporate donations. Donations are processed and packaged by volunteers at warehouses called “Giving Factories” and are distributed to children through a collaborative network of social service agencies and school partners. For more information, visit www.cradlestocrayons.org.