SUNDRE - As as the community keeps donating warm, clean jackets in good condition, the Coats for the Cold coordinator plans to continue delivering the free service for people in need.
Shelley Kohut, a local realtor who runs Neighbors Helping Neighbors, said the program typically goes through about 160 coats every year.
Those numbers are estimated based on how many Bibles are included in the jackets’ pockets. This season, the program has already gone through two boxes of Bibles — amounting to 100 — and have run out, said Kohut, adding she’s put out a call to see about getting more.
The rack was recently running rather bare on coats as well, and she said donations are welcome.
“We could use some more right now for sure. If anybody wants to bring any by, that would be awesome,” she said.
“If we have any left when we do take them down, then we just take them over to the thrift store.”
Kohut anticipates leaving the rack available for the immediate future, as the coldest months could still be ahead, with recollections of last year’s polar vortex that plunged the area into a deep freeze until March.
“It was just terrible last year.”
Previously set up next to IGA’s east entrance, the coat rack was relocated last year to in front of the Neighbors Helping Neighbors office, where it remains this year.
“We put them out early because of the early snowfall back in September.”
Largely leading the effort to maintain and stock the racks, she said, has been Tammi Johnson.
“She’s one of our best volunteers. She does most of the work on it.”
Anyone who is so inclined can deliver jackets directly to the Neighbors Helping Neighbors office, said Kohut, adding men’s coats typically seem to go the fastest, but that women’s jackets are also welcome.
Lighter coats for spring or fall, however, should instead be donated to the Sundre Thrift Shop, she said.
Coats remain outside on the rack 24 hours a day, so people who find themselves in need can just help themselves even when the office is closed, she said.
Since she launched the program almost 10 years ago as part of a community initiative challenge issued by the McDougal Chapel, Kohut said she was surprised from the start just how many coats were needed.
“It does seem to fill a need, so it would be a shame not to do it.”
The idea, she added, is not only to help keep the biting cold at bay, but also to offer some warmth and comfort for people’s spirits through the words in the Bible.
“As long as the community continues to support the program by donating coats, we’ll continue to do it.”
