Winter Coat Drive

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How It Started

One chilly fall weekend Christian and Pamela Wilson saw a young boy going to school one chilly in 2002 in a tee shirt and overly large pants pulled up to his chest for warmth.  Hearing that his parents were not able to provide more for him we spoke to the school principal and asked if they could provide coats for him and for other needy children.  She was more than happy to accept this offer.  So a quick run to a mall resulted in 20 new coats, 10 boys’ and 10 girls’, being donated to the school.  Then began the project to collect as many new and gently used coats for children from many sources interested in helping these children.  Coats came from churches, from neighbors, from non-profits which ran coat drives, from universities to hospitals who set up coat drives.  Gloves, hats and scarves were quickly added to the collections and then larger coats for teens and adults.  The Wilsons washed or had dry cleaned the used clothing and contacted schools and every entity they could think of who had a need to clothe the poor.  When Heart’s Place Service was established it took over this program and within the 17 years of this program over 9,000 items of winter clothing has been distributed. 

How We get Our Coats

Coats for both children and adults, along with gloves, hats and scarves are collected for us from churches, neighbors, nonprofits, companies and universities who set up coat drives.