The Livingston Coat Drive continues to request warm coats, gloves, hats and scarves, and men’s dress attire, including suits, sport coats, dress slacks, dress shirts and neckties. "We will continue to deliver these badly needed items to the poor, homeless and disenfranchised through Friday, March 11," said Livingston resident Jeff Friedman, founder and director of the Coat Drive. "The cold weather is still here, and it will continue to be coat season. Is anyone reading this now going outside without a coat/jacket and gloves?"
The numbers are "interesting to note," said Friedman, who is known affectionately as "The Coat Guy." Coat Drive volunteers, along with the West Essex Tribune, have collected and donated some 2,093 coats at press time, running just slightly ahead of last season at the same time, when the number was 2,032. "Last year, we ended the drive with a total of 2,130," the Coat Guy said. "Men’s dress clothes and winter accessories, of which there were hundreds of each, are not included in the calculation."
The number of poor people losing their benefits has increased since last year, Friedman continued. "Families just minutes away are cold and hungry. That’s why I want to exceed last season’s number by 10%. Let’s make a big community-wide push for the last week to make that happen. Now is the time for those who always wanted to donate, perhaps thought about looking in their closets, but never did so. This is their time to act. Residents can rest assured that their donations will be delivered to the needy within days, yielding immediate results. We can do this together!"
Friedman also noted that the Coat Drive's "Personal Shopping for the Homeless" initiative is still on. He encouraged residents who did not have old coats of their own to donate to consider buying a new one on sale for the drive. "We are in need of men's coats, from sizes large to XXX large. Most of the folks on the street who need our coats are men."
At the completion of this season’s Coat Drive, which is a little more than a week away, the Coat Guy will issue a Report to Community quantifying deliveries and which distribution associates received them. Coat Drive volunteers have made 30 deliveries this season, so far, with more to come as the paper goes to press.
Generous donations have been arriving from unexpected locations to our Coat Drive partner, the West ...
