The Kosciusko Rotary Club will be holding a coat drive throughout the month of November.
Donations of new or lightly worn coats can be dropped off at Michelle Nicholson State Farm, 116 N. Jackson St.; Kosciusko Attala Partnership, 101 N. Natchez St.; Attala County Bank, 439 Mississippi 12 E.; Boswell Media, 1 Golf Course Road; and IMC Fabrication, 515 N. Wells St. All sizes of coats are needed, and the Rotary Club has a goal of collecting 300 coats.
“We’re hoping we can get a lot of coats,” said Rotary President Darren Milner. “We felt like it was a good opportunity for us to give back to the community, and we’ve found out there is a really big need for it here.”
The coats will be placed on a clothing rack outside of select businesses, such as Michelle Nicholson State Farm. The rack will stay outside all day and night, which will allow anyone who needs a coat to discreetly get one if they might feel embarrassed do so during normal business hours. Anyone in need of warm winter coats can come at any time to pick one out and take it home.
Rotarian Michelle Nicholson brought the idea of the coat drive and giveaway to the club.
Another civic organization had started it a couple of years ago, and then Nicholson continued it last year at her downtown business, where she placed a rack outside.
“People would just come by all the time and get them, and I would come to the office the next day and the rack would be almost empty, and I would put some more out. So it’s something that’s needed,” she said. “I brought it to the club and said, ‘Hey, it really needs to be bigger than what I can do by myself,’ and as a club we love the idea of helping the community.”
Nicholson said it was a good feeling to come to her business in the morning and see that coats were taken from the rack.
“It’s just taking intentional time to do something for somebody else and seeing that it was needed and seeing that somebody could use it, it did put a smile on my face and let me know what I’m doing is the right thing,” she said.
For more information about how to donate coats, call Milner at 662-290-6963.
