A small crowd gathered early on a Saturday morning at Flint’s Burlington Coat Factory for an exclusive shopping party: six students from the Flint Community Schools were there to spend $21,000 on winter jackets as part of Kids Involved in Coats for Kids (KICK). This program incorporates Flint children into the Salvation Army’s Coats for Kids efforts. “We found that when grown-ups pick the coats, the kids won’t wear them,” said Connie Peters, Development Director at the Salvation Army, “so we thought, Why not have kids pick them out?” And that’s just what they’ve done for the past four years. Winners of the KICK poster contest were invited to the shopping spree on November 16, and as a special bonus, they were allowed to choose a coat for themselves as well.