By Jeff Friedman
Jeff “the Coat Guy” Friedman, founder and director of the Livingston Philanthropies, this week personally reflects on the continuing need for coats and toiletries to help the homeless.
• • •
Was the holiday season nearly two months ago? What happened to Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa? How about those nice folks in red suits collecting for the poor?
Some call that special time of year the “giving season.” Monies are donated, coats are collected and a few hearty meals are prepared for those living beneath the poverty line. Then, inevitably, January 1 comes around. What happened to the generous giving, all done with love, fellowship and philanthropic hearts?
The stark reality is, it’s still “freezing-on-the-streets season.” Indeed, it’s also, “you can’t practice good hygiene without hygiene products season.” That’s why Livingston Philanthropies volunteers are still requesting warm coats and jackets, winter accessories and hotel-size toiletry items. After all, it’s only February. The need is big and the need is now. We continue to go strong, with twice-weekly deliveries to serve the poor, homeless and disenfranchised. With 1,700 coats donated so far this season (our seventh season, in fact), just 600 more are needed to slightly top last year’s total.
Livingston’s civic, education and religious organizations have been good to Livingston Philanthropies. Many Livingston groups conducted their own coats and toiletries outreaches on behalf of their local, home-grown philanthropy. That’s us. It’s not too late to start an initiative in one’s church, temple, community-based organization, club or school. We offer convenient pick-up. And, it’s fun, too. Why not make a difference for those beyond less fortunate, living only minutes away?
Generous donations of warm coats, jackets, hotel-sized toiletries and cosmetics, including shampoo, conditioner, soap, cotton swabs, deodorant, lotion, tooth brushes, tooth paste, all dental samples and more are respectfully requested. Whatever the item, the extremely poor need it.
In the sage words of John Lennon, “What we’ve got to do is keep hope alive. Because without it we’ll sink.” Sometimes, hope requires action. Philanthropic action, perhaps.
I recently spoke to Cub Scouts of Livingston Pack 12, at the invitation of Livingston resident Monique Bell-Zakkour. Her husband, Michael Zakkour, is Cubmaster of the pack, whose members range from kindergarten to ten years of age.
“One of the requirements of the boys in our Wolf pack is to work as a group on a community service project,” Bell-Zakkour said. “We asked the boys to select one to three possible ...
