In the past, most of the coats for the drive were brought to the church during Sunday mornings in the month of November. Everyone is going to miss Bob Tick and Ed O'Halloran with their big smiles and big coat drive sign in the courtyard collecting coats!!!! I can't tell you how many people have said to me that with Bob and Ed out there every week, it reminded them to get there coats in! Without this wonderful reminder, now, YOU, dear volunteers, are going to have to channel Bob and Ed's enthusiasm!!! A hard act to follow I know, but, we can do this!!!
Last year, Threads collected 450 coats. With that said, we will need to really put our heads together and reach out to our greater Atlanta community of friends to collect enough coats for ALL kids in need this year. I would like to collect twice as many coats this year, I am confident that with our agency partnerships we will be able to identify families who could benefit from this drive.
So, what can you do now? Please reach out to your friends and tell them that your church is doing a massive coat drive for kids and ask them if they have coats to donate. If you are able, ask them to bring their coats to you, that way you can wash them and make sure they fit the criteria of what we need. Once you have collected a few, then you can deliver them to the campus, or, share the address of All Saints' so your friends and family can order their coats online and ship them to the church.
Stay tuned, I will also be asking a few of you to help in Ellis Hall on the days we deliver (and before!) to help me organize the coats and get our red bags labeled.