Junior Auxiliary has Warren County covered
The Junior Auxiliary of McMinnville will be warming the hearts of the less fortunate in Warren County this year, literally, with its Coats for the Community program. The organization has been sponsoring the program for six years and provided coats for over 200 children with last year’s drive.
“Most people don’t realize how lucky we are,” said Junior Auxiliary vice president Tonya Scott. “If it’s cold outside, we can just go get our coat out of the closet. But there are a lot of children, and adults, in Warren County who don’t have that option. We try to give to those people so they don’t have to worry about being cold, and the kids can have coats to wear to school.”
Up until this year, the program has been called Coats for Kids, but due to requests from those who have benefited from the program in the past, the group has decided to ask for donations of coats of all sizes, from infant to adult, thus the name change to Coats of the Community.
Also for the first time, Junior Auxiliary members will have a booth at the Warren County A&L Fair where they will be asking for donations of coats that have been outgrown or replaced. Once donated, the coats will be laundered and provided to needy families in the county.
Over 100 coats have already been collected from the lost and found in local schools, and according to Coats for the Community committee chairman Tanya Woodlee, these unclaimed coats have made a big difference to local children.
“There’s another world out there,” said Woodlee. “There are children who are deprived and people who can’t afford to buy coats because they’re just trying to get their bills paid so they’ll have electricity and food on the table, and they go without. The kids who got the coats last year were so grateful they would have a coat to wear to school. It’s a really great project.”
According to Woodlee, the coats the group collects during the fair will be distributed at Three Star Mall on Saturday, Sept. 25, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., and again on Saturday, Oct. 2, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.