Now in its 15th year of helping provide clean warm coats to those in need, Ventura Rotary’s “Coats For Kids” project is seeking donations of used coats, jackets and heavy sweatshirts of all sizes. Donations can be made at more than 50 area business, school and office locations, including Trader Joes, Green Thumb Nursery, and all Ventura elementary schools. For an interactive map, including nearest locations and directions, click to: http://j.mp/2qzLkPq
“It’s a great way to help out those in need, while also cleaning out your closets of coats that you or your children no longer use,” says project director, Kristin Taylor. “Simply drop them in the large marked box at any collection site. We pick them up, and the wonderfully generous team at Persnickity Cleaners then professionally cleans them.”
“Not everyone can write a big check to charity, but many can find a coat or two in the back of the closet and then feel good about making a very real and practical difference to someone in their community,” says Club president Connie Young, “We’ve collected, cleaned and distributed over 60,000 coats-for-kids over the past 15 years. With the weather turning cold and the number in need growing, we challenge the community to fill those donation boxes and help us collect 6,000 more this year!”
After cleaning, the coats are provided immediately and throughout the year to various local organizations to ensure that someone truly in need can have access to a warm coat. These organizations include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Oxnard and Ventura, Project Understanding, Casa Pacifica, Rescue Mission, The Salvation Army, Sherriff’s Departments and local churches.
“We’ll be collecting all month long, right up until the New Year,” says Taylor, “but the distribution and positive impact on those less fortunate will continue on all year long. It’s a lot of work, but the payoff is in knowing that we’re making a difference in the lives of others throughout Ventura County, one coat at a time."
Ventura Rotary gives thanks to the many merchants and schools that serve as drop off sites. From restaurants and banks, to dentist offices and gyms, these drop off sites assure that making a donation of a coat is easy! "We're also very happy to have the help of our friends at the Rotary Club of Ventura South who are managing 10 of the drop off sites for the program this year," says Taylor. "This is truly a project by our community, for our community!"
Vital to the success of the project is the support of its generous business partners, including: Gold Coast Broadcasting and KVTA, Persnickity Cleaners, FASTSIGNS of Ventura, Olas Express Laundromat, Halter-Encinas Enterprises, Team Dembowski Realty, MJP Technologies, and the Law Offices of Bamieh & DeSmeth.
The Rotary Club of Ventura is dedicated to improving the lives of others in our community. The Coats for Kids Program is one of several projects designed to meet this goal. Other annual projects of the Club include sourcing, filling and donating over 800 school backpacks to local children each year, and providing a Reference Dictionary to every third grader in the Ventura Unified School District.