By C.D. DESALVO
Hays Post
Twenty years ago, Top Notch Cleaners started a coat drive for local kids in the area who could not afford to get coats for the winter season. Over the years, other organizations started to get involved, including Master Cleaners. The coat drive has continued to grow and draw attention from places outside of Kansas as the leftover coats have been sent to places such as American Indian reservations and even Hurricane Katrina victims.
For Amy Smith of Top Notch Cleaners, it was her parents that made the idea a reality 20 years ago.
“A lot of it was my parent’s idea, mainly my dad’s. He grew up as a little kid on a farm over by Walker Army Airfield and a lot of times, having a lot of kids, they did not have money for everybody to get new coats so they got a lot of Army stuff like Army jackets and things like that. … He commented on how there is obviously a need here in Hays,” Smith said. “He thought that with having a cleaners service, it would be a good idea for us to maybe initiate it and get it started.”
Smith says in the first couple years, a lot of coats were donated but not as many people were picking them up. Once they moved the date back on the coat drive, there was more success.
“We got a lot better response by moving the date back because, by the beginning of October, usually we have had a cold spell where people go to the closet to get their jackets out and it kind of reminds them,” she said. “It is just a better timing for it and then we try and have them given out before Halloween because usually by Halloween we have had a couple cold days and the kids are going to be needing them.”
Although it is a coat drive, Ryan Gottschalk of Master Cleaners said it is not just coats that can be donated for the drive.
“We have people year round that drop off stuff at our store for the drive. Coats, hats, gloves and jackets as they go through their closets throughout the year and we collect them and save them until it gets to be time for the coat drive,” he said.
The biggest demand has always been children’s coats. Although Smith sets up boxes for coats at USD 489 schools and sends fliers home with USD 489 students, she said there are never enough coats for kids at the giveaway.
“Our coat giveaway starts at 9 in the morning and usually by 9:30 all of the kids coats that we and Master Cleaners have are gone,” Smith said. “Between us and Master Cleaners, we get anywhere between 1,200 to 1,600 items and kids coats are such a small fraction. We are lucky if we get 100 to 200 kids coats out of those.”
If you are looking to donate coats, hats or gloves that have been outgrown or are no longer used, you can drop off those items at both McDonald’s locations in Hays, Top Notch Cleaners, 201 W. Eighth, or Master Cleaners, 200 W. 8th through Oct. 2. Items can also be dropped off at any Hays school, including Thomas More Prep-Marian and Holy Family Elementary. If you miss the deadline, the schools will be taking items past Oct. 2.
The coat drive distribution will be at both Top Notch Cleaners and Master Cleaners on Oct. 21, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Any leftover items will be given away and not sold. There are no income guideline requirements for receiving coats; anyone in need of items can receive them.