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Organizations across central New York requested over 3,000 articles of winter clothing as part of Syracuse University’s first-ever Operation Orange Warmup.

The clothing drive began gathering coats, gloves, mittens, hats, boots and scarves from fans at the SU men’s basketball game against Florida State University on Saturday, Jan. 15. SU continued to receive donations via a bin outside Hendricks Chapel from Monday, Jan. 17 through Friday, Jan. 21.

“We tried to make it as easy as possible so people could just simply drive up with their coats, drop things off in the bin and then turn around and leave,” said Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz, the associate dean of Hendricks Chapel. “It’s not as hospitable as we normally are, but it’s a little safer for people to just drop things off.”

Anyone who dropped off items at the bin, which was placed outside the door of Hendricks Chapel facing Eggers Hall, received a sticker and a thank you letter from Ruth Chen, a professor of practice at the College of Engineering and Computer Science; Cydney Johnson, SU’s vice president of community engagement and government relations; and Beth Broadway, the President and CEO of InterFaith Works, an organization that assists refugees in central New York.

Requests for donations were received from InterFaith Works, Rescue Mission, Salvation Army, YWCA, North Side Learning Center, Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, Catholic Charities, Blessing Box, NAACP, Mercy Works, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, La Liga and the Labor Council.

Each organization filled out a form indicating how much of each article of clothing it required, including sizes and whether they were for men, women or children.

A total of 717 coats, 682 gloves and mittens, 643 hats, 556 boots and 423 scarves were requested by 13 organizations, Chen said in an email to The Daily Orange. She said in a separate email that the collected totals would not be known until the morning of Monday, Jan. 24, when clothing is distributed to the organizations.

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Chen and Kantrowitz both noted that some students requested clothing as well. If students need winter clothing and did not submit a request for this clothing drive, Hendricks Chapel is still available to assist them, Kantrowitz said.

Inspiration for Operation Orange Warmup came from a clothing drive by Stalwart Battalion, SU’s Army ROTC training corps, for Afghan refugees at Fort Dix and a pop-up clothing closet organized by this year’s Remembrance Scholar cohort for 20 refugee families during the fall 2021 semester, according to Madi Messare, who led the effort for both groups as a Remembrance Scholar and chair of the battalion’s opportunity board.

Messare said Chen approached her after both of these efforts with the idea of a larger clothing drive with donations from the entire community, and the idea of Operation Orange Warmup was born.

The original plan was to have the clothing drive at the final home football game, but the game was too close to organize the clothing drive in time, Chen said. The drive’s organizers then chose the basketball game against FSU because of its afternoon tipoff to maximize the number of fans and, hopefully, donations.

Thanks to all who gave and plan to give to Operation Orange Warmup! Great job by our student volunteers, staffers and @CNYCentral and @NewsChannel9 for coverage! @SyracuseUNews pic.twitter.com/u0TSGEDqYl

— KeithatSU (@KeithAtSu) January 15, 2022

Members from the athletics department helped collect and launder the clothing to ensure its integrity before it was distributed, and the communications staff worked to spread the word about the event.

Broadway said Chen’s position on the Board of Directors of InterFaith Works led her to reach out to the organization about the initiative. From there, Chen and Johnson ran the university side of the operation, while Broadway and InterFaith Works took charge of the community side.

Once all the items were collected and laundered, they were taken to a warehouse at 1600 Jamesville Ave., where ROTC cadets and Remembrance Scholars sorted them.

“It’s honestly surprising to me that this is the first time Syracuse University has come together with the surrounding community members and organizing nonprofits to do something like this because we have such great tools to do a large donation drive,” Messare said.

Although bumps in the road came up along the way, such as the start of the spring 2022 semester being delayed leading to fewer students being on campus to participate, Messare hopes Operation Orange Warmup can become an annual event, especially earlier in the winter to provide the clothing before the temperature drops.

Chen shared the same sentiments as Messare about moving the event to earlier in the fall. Many of the fans at the basketball game and public safety officers that collected clothing this year were already excited and preparing for the initiative next year, she said.

Published on January 23, 2022 at 11:44 pm

Contact Danny: ddamron@syr.edu | @dannyamron_