INDIANAPOLIS - Four students at the Stout Field Elementary School recently received new winter coats, hats and gloves from the Indiana National Guard as part of the Warm Hands, Warm Hearts program.
"These coats are from all of us in the National Guard," said Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, the adjutant general for Indiana, who presented the students with the coats and one of his coins.
The goal of the program, which is supported by National Guard employees from the Stout Field area, is to provide new coats, hats and gloves for children, who need them and might otherwise go without.
Over the last three years, it has provided about 40 coats and about 120 hats and gloves to students attending the school, said Casey Foust, the Stout Field Elementary School home and school advisor.
Foust said this is her third year participating in the program with the National Guard, and she believes it has made a difference in many children's lives during the winter months.
"These kids get excited about the coats, and for the kids to be able to go outside and play and not get cold it just makes a huge difference," said Foust.
Foust explained some families working to get by may be strained for the extra money to purchase coats. So she and other faculty members keep a good lookout for those students, who may not have a good winter coat.
"If the families don't have to buy a coat that's more money they can use to buy other things they need," she said.
Umbarger expressed concern for the students, because "this is kind of like our school, being that it is right next door to us."