NEWPORT, Tenn. (WVLT) - Staff in Cocke County are hoping to help get warm clothes to students this winter through “Operation Jammies and Jackets.”

“We have children going to bed at night without something warm to wear. We have children arriving at school in shorts and T-Shirts,” Cocke County EMA Director Joe Esway said in a Facebook post. “We have children not prepared to brave the elements and because of this, a state of emergency exists within our county.”

Esway said he found out about the concerns in a meeting with representatives from the Newport Grammar School and Cocke County Schools Family Resource Center.

To help, the county is asking for donations of pajama tops and bottoms, socks, coats, winter hats, gloves and hand and feet warmers. They need to be new and can be adult or chi

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