Annual Coats for Kids’ drives aim to
keep Texans warm
Everything is bigger in Texas, and,
certainly, annual Coats for Kids’ drives throughout the
state are no exception.
This year, several cleaners have banded
together to make sure that nobody has to suffer through a cold
winter season.
In Longview, Texas, area drycleaners have
already collected and cleaned coats throughout October in order
to be distributed by Longview Community Ministries on November
13 — just in time before the coldest temperatures begin
to hit.
In 2003, the group effort netted 1,200
coats as well as blue jeans and hand-knitted caps to needy
children in the area.
Local participating cleaners in this
year’s drive include: Alpine Cleaners & Laundry, Dry
Clean Super Center, Four Seasons Cleaners & Laundry,
McLendon Cleaners, Peerless Laundry & Dry Cleaning, Service
Cleaners, Sno-White Laundry & Dry Cleaners, U.S. $1.99
Cleaners and Village Cleaners, Alpine Cleaners, Finish Line
Cleaners, Family Cleaners and Classic Cleaners.
In Texas’s Smith County, another 17
cleaners also spent the month of October collecting coats,
focusing mainly on helping children between the age of infancy
and their teenage years.
The organization PATH, People Attempting
to Help, plans to distribute the warm garments during the first
two Saturdays of November.
The following Smith County cleaners have
served as drop-off locations for the drive: Bell Cleaners,
Brite Way Cleaners, The Cleaning Company, Crown Cleaners, Dry
Clean Super Center, Eagle Cleaners, Fite’s Cleaners,
Gentry Cleaners, Hart’s Cleaners, Lindale Quality
Cleaners, Parker’s Cleaners, Progress Cleaners, Quality
Cleaners, Regency Cleaners, Shannon’s Cleaners, Silverado
$1.50 Cleaners and VIP Cleaners.
In Austin, Texas, another coat drive has
set its sights to launch on November 8 and run through December
8.
The Junior League of Austin will work in
conjunction KASE 101, KVUE and Jack Brown Cleaners, who have
chipped in free cleaning services for over 400,000 coats for
the children of Central Texas over the course of the past 14
years.
Overall, the cleaners has 45 locations in
the Austin area that are used as collection points for the
drive, which, in 2003, gathered in approximately 33,000 coats
from the community.
Altogether it took more than 1,500
volunteers to help sort and distribute the garments throughout
Austin.
Once all of this year’s winter
attire is collected and cleaned, it will be distributed to
local needy families on Saturday, December 11 between 8 a.m.
and 3 p.m. at the Palmer Events Center.
The Austin Coats for Kids program
distributes coats based on a voucher system that allows one
coat to go to each eligible child 17 years of age and younger.
In order to obtain a voucher, families
must visit with surrounding school districts’ counselors,
the Texas Department of Human Service and neighborhood centers
and meet certain eligibility requirements, such as being at or
below the national poverty level or be enrolled in a
governmental assistance program.
In addition to collecting coats, the drive
also will host a Coats for Kids Celebrity Coat Auction to raise
additional funds for the program. Last year, the Junior League
of Austin and Coats for Kids raised just under $13,000
during its 2nd Annual Celebrity Coat Auction by auctioning
off signed celebrity coats.
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