(Bridgeport, CT  — Nov. 25, 2013) – Telecommunication operators in the city’s 911 center collected more than 50 winter jackets during a pre-Thanksgiving coat drive.

The TCOs will collaborate with the police Community Services Division to distribute the coats at a city school.

“Our 911 Center staff deserves a lot of credit,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “They are the calming voice on the other end of the line when a person calls 911. It’s such a demanding job. This coat drive just shows how committed these people are to the residents of Bridgeport and I thank them.”

The TCOs started the coat drive about as week ago and boxes filled quickly.

“We wanted to focus on children,” said Denny Viera, an 18-year veteran of the dispatch center.

Calls from children can be the most emotionally difficult for telecommunication operators, she said. The children are often frightened. Sometimes they’re injured.

“You have a different voice when you speak to a child,” said Viera. “You have to be so reassuring.”

When those difficult calls come in, the operators rely on their training and each other, said Gabriella Novak, who has worked in the center for a year. That’s one of the reasons the TCOs wanted to collect coats for children.

“Helping people is a lot of what we do and this is just another way to help out,” said Novak.

Bill Kaempffer

Public Safety Spokesman

Bridgeport Police Department

Bridgeport Fire Department