The process of getting coats for kids out to the schools is underway at Peoples Bank. Here Karah Chancey, left, and Tina Rees began marking which coat goes to what child at which school and bagging them for delivery.

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POMEROY — For many of us when the weather turns cold we can just reach into our closets to find a heavy coat to keep us warm.

But not all people have that luxury, especially children.

For nearly three decades many area school children have been able to keep warm in winter because of the efforts of employees of the bank located at the corner of Court and Second in Pomeroy.

The program started out in 1984. Teachers began to notice that some of the children were coming to school either not wearing a coat or one that was too small or too big. That inspired the bank employees, then Bank One, to begin the “Coats for Kids” annual project aimed at seeing that every child had a warm coat to wear to school. When Bank One sold to Peoples Bank, the project continued.

Every year fund raisers are staged by the employees and local organizations give to the project. Residents donate coats outgrown by their own children and many new coats in a variety of sizes are purchased.

The whole process begins when the bank sends out letters and forms to the schools in October to be filled out by the teachers who observe a need. The forms with numbers and sizes needed are returned and then bank personnel begins matching coats to kids. They are bagged and delivered to the elementary schools in the three districts and to Carleton School for distribution to the children.

This year several nice donations have come in from concerned citizens, churches and organizations, the largest of which was $1,331.60 from the Pomeroy First Baptist Church.

Friday the Peoples Bank employees will hold another fund raiser. Several kinds of soup will be served and the table centerpiece will be a large glass jar for donations to Coats for Kids.