We have now recorded three episodes of freezing weather with more expected cold weather into early April. Today, from 5 AM until Noon, we will distribute 8,500 coats to kids identified by 177 school counselors. Thanks to our very first sponsor, Coldwell Banker One. John O. Hearin and Mike Breaux from PODS stored coats and additional sponsors: Neighbor’s Federal Credit Union, The Baton Rouge Clinic, Entergy and St. Vincent De Paul contributed their services. No amount was too small as our contributions soared to $ 95,000. For 33 years we’ve kept kids warm during the cold winter months. Leaving you with an anniversary item. Scottish naturalist John Bradbury explored the Mississippi River on a flatboat for the Botanical Society of Liverpool.  On the evening of December 15, 1811, he and his crew moored at a small island on the horseshoe bend of the river for the night.  In the early morning they were awakened and Bradbury’s journal notes that multiple earthquakes rumbled through the area known as New Madrid.  The shocks continued until daybreak with extensive damage along the shore as Bradbury and his crew noted that the river was covered with foam as empty boats floated by with no cargo or crew.  In the first series of shocks, witnesses noted that acres of riverbank crashed into the channel in huge columns creating eight foot swells. It is known today as the New Madrid Shocks.