Staff at Vail’s Dry Cleaning in New Minas have been gathering warm clothing for those in need for 20 years.
“My husband bought Vail’s in 1989, I took over three years on and I’m quite sure we have been doing it that long,” Janice McDougall said.
McDougall said she credits her staff for the success of the project.
“It’s a lot of work,” she said.
Employee Terrie Martin has been part of the project since the beginning.
“We started it shortly after I got here, we have been doing it,” Martin said. This year has been quite slow, however.
“We’ve had people go out and buy new ones” to help build the stockpile.
While the program is still called Coats for Kids, all sizes of winter clothing are needed.
“We have a lot of adults who need coats,” Martin pointed out.
Gently used and new winter clothing can be dropped off to the Commercial Street business all year. The Vail’s staff clean and bag the coats and deliver them to Open Arms to distribute to families in need.
