OLDS — Coats For Everyone, the program that provides free warm winter clothing for anyone who needs it is in its first year in a new location, the Olds United Church, where it’s now being run by the Community Lending Shelf (CLS).
Up until this year, Coats For Everyone had been operated by the Church of the Nazarene. It opened up in its new location the last week of September.
CLS director Lucinda Watkins says the demand is strong – so strong that she’s making an urgent call-out for donations.
And those donations don’t have to just be coats. Watkins says there’s a need for toques, gloves, mitts, scarves and boots as well. When Watkins was interviewed, there was an especially great need for adult coats.
A donation box on the east side of the church is available 24/7 for people to drop off donations.
With the addition of the Coats For Everyone program, the CLS was running out of space.
But the local Girl Guides solved that problem in about mid-September by giving up about a third of their space downstairs in the church for coats and other winter wear to be housed.
“It was very generous of them because that's kind of their space and they just kind of squished into less room,” Watkins said during an interview with the Albertan.
Watkins is anxious to receive more donations because already, she’s seen surges of 30 to 50 people come in to find coats and other winter wear in just a two-hour period. She said many appeared to be immigrant families or international students attending Olds College.
She feared what awaits them if they don't have proper clothing as winter gets closer.
“It hasn't got cold yet. I expect it to get busier as it gets colder,” she said.
