One Simple Act of Kindness Warms a Nation

In the fall of 1992, Lois Pavlow was seeking a solution. Living in San Francisco, she had an extra coat she no longer needed and wanted to give it to someone who could use the warmth. But as Executive Vice President Patti Zappa explains, “She could not find anywhere to donate it.”

What happened next would eventually provide warmth to nearly nine million people across America. Unable to find an organization to accept her coat, Pavlow did what San Franciscans do best – she mobilized. She organized a coat drive the weekend after Thanksgiving in Union Square. For seven years, it remained a local once-a-year San Francisco tradition. 

Then in 2001, everything changed when Sherri Wood heard something on her car radio that would transform a local weekend coat drive into a national movement.

Sitting in traffic, Wood heard a story about a woman carrying 10 coats, rushing to Union Square before the coat drive ended. “Sherri heard this and thought, why is this just a one weekend event? We should be doing this all the time. People should be able to donate coats at any time of year,” recalls Zappa.

That moment of inspiration led Wood to approach Pavlow with a vision that would redefine how America thinks about coat donations. Today, One Warm Coat is a thriving national nonprofit organization supporting more than 4,000 coat drives each year and  partnering with over 1,500 local nonprofits who distribute the coats to people in need.

The genius of their model lies in its simplicity and sustainability. “We’ve been virtual for 33 years now,” says President & CEO Beth Amodio. Without overhead for buildings, utilities, or warehouses, “93 cents of every dollar goes towards programs.” 

This approach has yielded remarkable results: nearly 60,000 coat drives since 1992, almost nine million coats distributed, and 22 million pounds of clothing diverted from landfills. In addition to their national Coat Drive Program, One Warm Coat’s Zero Waste Initiative provides a solution for retailers and manufacturers with overstock or irregular outerwear items they need to offload. Those items are matched with nonprofit partners in One Warm Coat’s extensive network.

Back in the Bay Area, where it all began, One Warm Coat maintains strong roots with 58 nonprofit partners and a 23-year relationship with KTVU Fox 2. They celebrated their 30th anniversary with a gathering in Union Square, where Wood was honored and able to witness how far her simple question – “why not everywhere?” – has traveled.

“One person can make such a big difference,” reflects Amodio. In a world that often feels disconnected, One Warm Coat proves that the simplest act of kindness – sharing a coat you no longer need – can ripple outward to warm millions.