Blue Ridge Communications (BRC) teamed up with United Way of Monroe County and its partner agency Pocono Services for Families and Children on Monday, December 11th to bring 500 new winter coats to children in need in Monroe County to help keep them warm this winter.

During the month of November, BRC ran a “Bundle Up” program. For every customer that bundled-up its services, BRC donated a new coat to “Bundle Up” a child in need with a new winter coat. BRC achieved its goal of 1,000 bundled services, resulting in 1,000 new winter coats for children across our region, with 500 distributed in the Greater Lehigh Valley last week, and another 500 distributed at The Mountain Center in Tobyahanna on Monday. “We are thrilled to get these warm coats to children in our community,” remarked Executive Director of Pocono Services for Families and Children and Monroe County and Head Start, Tim Lee. “Many of these working families are facing serious financial challenges, and this is a nice little boost for the holidays.”

According to United Way’s 2016 Community Needs Assessment, many working families in Monroe County struggle with basic needs. With 42% of all residents spending more than 30% of their entire income on housing alone, other basic amenities such as food, child care and even clothing can be difficult to afford. “This project has been a great coordinated effort that will bring joy and warmth to many children in our community this winter,” stated Jen Strauch, vp community impact for United Way.

The project required a collaborative effort to ensure the coats reached those most in need. Coat sizes for 500 children were gathered and ordered from several programs and schools across the county. Coats were delivered and distributed directly to children at the Mountain Center, while a team of volunteers boxed up hundreds more for delivery to several schools across the county.

“We are extremely proud of the results from our November “Bundle Up” Campaign,” said VP of Operations, Blue Ridge Communications, Mark Masenheimer. “This was a “win-win” scenario; our customers saved money by “bundling” their services with Blue Ridge and by partnering with United Way we were able to provide new winter coats to hundreds of children in Monroe County. I want to thank all our customers and employees that ‘bundled up’ and made this coat donation possible.” The team also gave special thanks to BRC’s Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator, Julianne Brixius who helped to work through all the details and planning of this donation in our community.