Glenn Garlick adjusts the foot of Ayden, 8, as he measures his shoe size to receive free athletic shoes during the Summer Kicks shoe gifting event at Fosco Park Fieldhouse on the Near West Side on July 9, 2021. This is a partnership between the Chicago Housing Authority and Operation Warm, sponsored by The MolinaCares Accord. (Vashon Jordan Jr. / Chicago Tribune)

Ambitions for a successful school year may be high, but so are the costs for back-to-school supplies. In its 15th annual back-to-school survey, Deloitte, an international tax consulting firm, found that parents and guardians are spending approximately 27% more on school supplies than in 2019. But Operation Warm, a nationwide nonprofit organization that has provided coats to children in need for 23 years, will be working to provide students with shoes.

Grace Sica, executive director of Operation Warm, said the goal for the nonprofit is to donate 600,000 coats to children in need and 100,000 pairs of athletic shoes.

Operation Warm does not provide coats directly to families but will be taking donations online until Sept. 15.

Shoes and coats are given directly to service organizations that can identify the children in need, according to Sica. The essentials are then distributed through partners including Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Housing Authority and the Chicago Park District.

“Just two years ago we decided to expand to shoes because we kept hearing from kids themselves that shoes were an item they didn’t have access to,” Sica said. “That was really the origin of saying, ‘Oh man, we have two really important pieces that can set a kid up for the school year,’ that was the birth of the school-ready program.”

Donations can be made at operationwarm.org. For the school-ready program, $45 provides a brand-new coat and a pair of athletic shoes.

“I think that everyone is experiencing inflation but for low-income families with school-aged children, it presents a lot of tough choices such as ‘Do you pay the electric bill or buy a new coat?’” Sica said. “Our hope is that we can alleviate with our community and with our supporters one of those concerns.”

In July 2021, Operation Warm partnered the Chicago Housing Authority and the Chicago Park District for a “Summer Kicks” giveaway at Fosco Park Fieldhouse for children between the ages of 3 and 10.

“We really try to think about what we do as not only addressing a physical need but also executing our program in a way that is stigma free.”

Richard Lalley, partnership director of the Chicg-o arm of Operation Warm, said the city is preparing for several of its in-person events happening this fall.

“We do our huge event at the end of October,” Lalley said. “This year it will be on Oct. 22 where 5,000 coats will be given to children in one day.”

Operation Warm will partner with Chicago Public Housing Authority for this event. Roughly 40 different nonprofit and for-profit governmental organizations, local libraries, healthcare and internet service providers will gather together at University of Chicago’s Isadore and Sadie Dorin Forum.

Lalley hopes to have more than 50,000 coats be distributed to Chicago’s youth between late August and January 2023.

What Lalley looks forward to the most, however, is being able to put the nonprofit’s slogan “more than a coat” into effect.

“We take all that energy of parents coming in to get coats for their children and have many more resources there,” Lalley said. "Whenever we can, we look for opportunities to leverage the energy so when a mom or dad comes in to get a coat, they are also getting other services they may not be aware of.”