"I got a scarf!" 6-year-old Daisy exclaimed to her friends as she excitedly pulled a pink knitted scarf out of her bag. The scarf matched her new winter coat and the pink heart painted on her face by a Queens Technical HS cosmetology student.

Daisy was one of 160 students living in temporary housing who attended the UFT Middle Schools Division's annual Thanksgiving Luncheon on Nov. 18 at UFT headquarters. At the end of the event, the children — who ranged in age from 5 to 17 — left with brand-new winter coats and accessories donated by UFT members or staff.

The union received over 700 coats and more than $9,000 in donations this year. "All this comes from the members," said UFT Vice President for Middle Schools Richard Mantell, who organizes the event every year.

Mantell said his favorite part is seeing the excitement of kids like Daisy. "It's priceless. It makes your heart melt," he said.

Carmen Romero Lee, a 6th- and 7th-grade social studies teacher and chapter leader at PS 177 in Manhattan, said the event was especially important this year, since many of the students were from asylum-seeking families.

"It's getting colder, and we know that there's a lot of housing instability with the right-to-shelter mandate in New York City being suspended soon," she said. "Winter is coming, and our kids need coats."

Romero Lee helped students make beaded bracelets at one of many craft tables scattered around the room. The kids had the opportunity to decorate tote bags, masks, magnets, suncatchers, pinwheels and more. Cosmetology students from Queens Technical HS painted nails, styled hair and painted faces.

Students with painted Spiderman and butterfly faces gathered to receive an early holiday dinner of chicken and potato puffs with ice cream for dessert.

Jennifer Rogers, a 6th-grade special education teacher and chapter leader at PS 289 in Brooklyn, brought it back to the '90s at a craft table with hacky sacks and slap bracelets for students to draw on with colored markers.

For Rogers, the work of an educator — and the work of the union — doesn't end in the classroom.

"We're a union that is here to protect our profession and our members, but also to protect our kids and our community," she said. "Events like these bring to light what we do for kids."