Project Bundle-Up is a program initiated in 1986 by WTAE-TV Channel 4 in a joint community effort with the Salvation Army of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Donations are accepted all year long. Click here to see the donor benefit levels and click here for a printable mail-in donation form.

The annual auction is held on the Web in the early summer. Local merchants and retailers donate products to be auctioned off online. Visit projectbundleup.com for more information.

All of the money raised by the auction and telethon is then used for personal shopping days in which needy children pick out their own new winter outerwear at local retail outlets. More than 1,500 volunteers, including WTAE's on-air team, help the children individually select their outerwear.

WTAE, the Salvation Army and many other local merchants have joined together to raise millions of dollars to provide warm winter outerwear to hundreds of thousands of people throughout western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia.

Project Bundle-Up serves needy and disabled senior citizens and disadvantaged children, ranging from infants to teens. Most of the children served are of elementary school age.

Eligibility for the program is based on economic need. The application process administered by the Salvation Army examines a family's monthly bills and income, number of children in the family and employment status.

WTAE's annual telethon is broadcast live in December. Volunteers take viewer pledges from a phone bank throughout the day, during a live, one-hour evening broadcast, throughout prime time, and wrap up before the 11 p.m. broadcast of WTAE Channel 4 Action News.

Project Bundle-Up is designed to help families from Erie south to the West Virginia state line and from the Altoona area west to the Ohio state line. The division is known as the Western Pennsylvania Division of the Salvation Army.

During the telethon, the staff has the opportunity to recognize donors who have raised more than $1,000 for the project during the calendar year.

Each Salvation Army Center maintains a waiting list for Project Bundle-Up. When a child or family qualifies for a coat, they may also benefit from some of the 75 other services the Salvation Army offers. The services include job training, after-school programs, food and energy assistance and parenting skills information.

You can contact the Salvation Army at salvationarmy-wpa.org.