Over the months of November and December all UNIQLO stores in the U.S. collected donations from customers to help provide over 350 children in eight different cities with an unforgettable "Warm Gesture" shopping spree for warm winter clothing at one of our stores.

The events started off on Tuesday Dec. 9 at the UNIQLO Beverly Center store in Los Angeles. There, 40 children from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority came to the store for a shopping spree that ended up being extra special – Pharrell Williams came to shop with them. For each of these events, the children were paired with volunteer "shopping buddies" who helped them pick out appropriate items as well as help them manage their shopping "budget" of $100 in special shopping tokens. The stores were either closed for the event or they took place before opening hours to make this activity as comfortable as possible for the children.

On Friday "A Warm Gesture" continued in Philadelphia with 50 children from the John Moffet Elementary School coming to the UNIQLO Chestnut Street store. 80 percent of the children that attend John Moffet are low income and are desperately in need of basic items, like warm jackets for winter.

Saturday there were with six more events in San Francisco, Brooklyn, New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut and Boston. In San Francisco 42 children from the Compass Family Center and Hamilton Family Center came to the UNIQLO Powell Street store to purchase their clothing. In Brooklyn, 40 children from East New York Academy were welcomed at UNIQLO's Atlantic Terminal store. 75 children from the New York Department of Homeless Services traveled to UNIQLO's Global Flagship store on 5th Avenue to experience this special event. At the UNIQLO Willowbrook store in New Jersey, 20 children from Public School #6 came to shop. Over half of the children from Public School #6 lost everything they owned in a fire that burned down their homes this fall. The Trumbull UNIQLO team in Connecticut welcomed children ages 2 to 17 from the New Reach Inc., a transitional family center. With the help of the Red Sox Foundation, UNIQLO's Chestnut Hill store in Boston team hosted 40 children from the Home for Little Wanderers and shopped with them for items such as Heattech gloves and fleece jackets.

Most of these kids would not have received anything for Christmas this year if it had not been for "A Warm Gesture." This continues to be an event that UNIQLO store staff looks forward to each year, because of the opportunity to give back to the communities that have so warmly embraced them.

75 children from the New York Department of Homeless services joined the Manhattan area team at the UNIQLO 5th Avenue Global Flagship store.

Pharrell Williams joined the children for over an hour of shopping and made sure to take the time to have a word with every child and pose for lots and lots of joyful selfies.