For 14 years, the St. Charles Breakfast Rotary Club provided new winter coats for children in need, according to a news release.

The Club – recently renamed the Rotary Club of St Charles-Geneva – kicked off the 15th annual Koats for Kids campaign, which will run through Dec. 9.

New coats and jackets will go to Lazarus House and Salvation Army in St. Charles, school districts in Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles and to the Kane County Specialty Courts, the release stated.

Volunteers from Batavia Rotary will join the St. Charles-Geneva Rotary to sort, tag and deliver the coats with a goal this year of 1,000.

Rotarian Tassie Brautigam, who heads the project, said it started when people noticed requests for coats on the Salvation Army Angel Tree tags.

“Knowing the expense of a winter coat, the idea was hatched,” Brautigam stated in the release. “We tag the coats only by size in order to fill the requests made by our recipient groups. No one on the Rotary sees any names of those children who will receive the coats.”

The coats are purchased new with donations.

Checks should be made payable to St. Charles Breakfast Rotary Foundation, P.O. Box 927, St. Charles IL, 60174, or through Operation Warm.

A donation made by credit card to Operation Warm shows a fee. If the donor adds that fee, it comes back to the Rotary, Brautigam stated in the release. A receipt is automatically generated.