With temperatures still way below normal, the Coat Drive is continuing to collect winter coats and accessories for the needy, announced Livingston Coat Drive organizer Jeff Friedman.
Friedman, who is coordinating the drive for the fourth consecutive year, noted, "As of our last delivery, we had collected 1,959 coats. With what we have received since then, we've hit our goal of 2,000 coats." An exact count, however, was not available at press time; Friedman was planning to make an additional delivery later this week.
Friedman, who is known affectionately as "the Coat Guy," continued, "Even through we have hit our goal, we'll continue collecting coats at least through the end of February. Sadly, the brutally cold weather is staying with us, and sadder still, there are a lot of folks out there who don't have enough warm clothing to get them through the rest of the winter."
The Coat Drive is being conducted in partnership with the West Essex Tribune, whose office at 495 South Livingston Avenue (next to ShopRite) serves as a drop-off point for donations. In addition to the Tribune, Richard and Robyn Acceturo, owners of West Orange Jewelers at 16 Eisenhower Parkway in Roseland, have offered their store as a Coat Drive collection point. Coats may also be dropped at the Village Laundry Center at 213 Bellevue Avenue, Upper Montclair, owned by Adam and Wendy Slavitt.
The Slavitts join fellow Livingston residents Bob Gebroe and Candi Samansky as part of the Coat Drive's volunteer "Dream Team." They, along with the Coat Guy's sister-in-law, Joyce Friedman of Montclair, have spent that past five months collecting, sorting, and delivering gently used and new winter coats, gloves, scarves and hats to a variety of distribution partners in Newark and East Orange.
The Coat Drive's mission, said Jeff Friedman, is "providing warmth to the poor, homeless and disenfranchised." His distribution partners for the drive range from social service agencies to churches to soup kitchens. "We make deliveries at least once a week," he explains. "Our donors should know that their coats and accessories are going straight to those who need them the most."
The coats, he adds, "are going to people in need, who live just a few minutes down the road. I've met these folks. They are hard-working people who have fallen on hard times and just need a little help. To paraphrase Theodore Roosevelt, at some point, we should all 'stretch out a helping hand ...
