The Salvation Army Gets Ready To Host Its Annual Coats For Kids And Families Drive

KVRR has been a sponsor of the Coats for Kids and Families Drive for the last four years.

MINNESOTA & NORTH DAKOTA – The Salvation Army kicks off its annual Coats for Kids and Families Drive with some help from Hornbacher’s to make sure families are prepared for the winter.

Many families in the metro will soon be able to take winter gear off their checklist without feeling the financial strain.

“Folks have to pay rent, they have to pay utilities. That’s one of those areas they just say, we just have to figure out how to make due. You know, they have to pay for food, they have to pay for other stuff, so it’s a great opportunity for us to be able to use stuff and a lot of times people are getting rid of the stuff anyways,” said Major Jerry O’Neil, from the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army has set up donation bins at all Hornbacher’s locations in Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo for people interested in donating their new or gently used items.

“Clothes are always a huge need. Hats, mittens, gloves, scarfs, boots, snow pants, basically anything that can keep kids warm and safe,” O’Neil said.

Those items will be part of their annual drive which will look a little bit different due to COVID-19.

“Instead of a one or two day event we’re going to do the distribution through the entire month of October and if folks are not able to get there, then we’ll talk about different schedules, but it’s a learning progress for us, we’ll see how it goes,” O’Neil said.

In a normal setting, they would usually have almost 200 volunteers taking part in the event.

“Now, we are only probably using 15 or 20 volunteers, so we don’t have anybody in the building, so we’re able to manage with what we have and do the best that we can,” O’Neil said.

Organizers say it’s in times like these we need to show that even in the worst of times, we can be there for each other.

“It’s just a great opportunity for neighbors to help each other and I think that’s what we need in the world today is just folks helping each other. We’ve seen a lot of it, we’ve seen massive examples of that everyday and it’s just an opportunity to be able to do that,” O’Neil adds.

Last year, almost 1,600 coats were given out along with over 2,300 scarves, hats, boots and gloves.