Janae Tanner from Strativera with all the donated coats
By Janae Tanner, Co-Founder and VP of Growth & Client Success, Strativera
What a Camden County school taught a Camden County business about giving, and how any local company can do the same next winter.
This fall I stood behind a table stacked with more than 50 new winter coats, sweatpants, and pairs of gloves, every one of them headed to an elementary student at Lindenwold Public Schools in Camden County. It was Strativera’s first coat drive. It will not be our last, and the reason has less to do with us than with how the school handled it.
We did not pick the families. The school did.
A business that wants to help a school usually starts in the wrong place: with what it wants to give. We started with a question instead, and the answer came back from the people who actually know the kids. Lindenwold’s staff identified the families who could use a hand this winter. They did it quietly, the way it should be done, and they never had to explain a single family to us.
That left us with a job we could do well: show up with a range of kids’ sizes, sorted and ready, so staff could get a coat to a child without a line, a form, or a photo of anyone who did not ask for one.
What we would tell any business owner who wants to do this
Let the school lead. Teachers and counselors already know who needs help. Your role is logistics and generosity, not selection.
Buy a range, not a number. A coat that does not fit is a coat that does not get worn. We stocked kids’ sizes across styles and colors, from leopard-print puffers for the youngest students to navy and rust coats for the older ones, so each child could pick something they would want to put on.
Sort before you show up. Every item was sorted by size before it reached the school. Nobody on a school staff has a spare afternoon to do that for you.
Photograph the coats, not the kids. Every picture from our drive shows a table and a pile. That is on purpose, and it is the part most companies get wrong.
Set the next goal while the first one is fresh. Ours is already on paper: 100 or more coats, sweatpants, and gloves across more Camden County schools in 2027, with each school choosing the families it supports.
Why a marketing agency does this
Strativera is headquartered in Cherry Hill, a short drive from Lindenwold. We spend our working days helping companies grow, and it would be strange to do that in a county we never show up for. Our co-founder Joe Levy put it plainly when we planned this: the company has to give more than it takes, and the proof of that is not in a client deck. It is in a kid who is warm at the bus stop in January.
How to join us in 2027
If you lead a Camden County school with families who need winter gear, or you run a business here and want to stand next to us next fall, email info@strativera.com. We will share what worked, including the sizing mix. The full story and photos from this year’s drive are at strativera.com/insights/first-annual-coat-drive-lindenwold.
Thank you to the Lindenwold staff who welcomed us. The school knew. We just had to show up.
