Driving Home Home The Coat Drive
I was going to post my annual Christmas Gift blog. You know my can’t live without candle you must all purchase to complete your lives. Because we all really need some more shit we don’t use.
Yeah, right, the economy is supposedly Trumpingly fantastic, though the money is starting to drip out of his prosperity plan and if you walk around New York you see more homelessness than I remember in decades.
Listen I’m not blasting gift giving. Historically it’s been one of my favorite activities. And I still give gifts. But it’s hard to live in our present world and not get more joy from giving than getting, especially to those in need.
So, this year I upped the goal for collecting coats to donate to the New York Cares Coat Drive to 400 coats. A lot, but not undoable.
I figured between all the followers I have on my various social media accounts and with the ever-loyal Paul Wiliams reposting on all to his tens upon tens of thousands of followers, many would be alerted to this giving opportunity.
And it’s not a lot in the absolute, one old coat that hasn’t been worn in years from the back of the closet; one coat picked up for five dollars from a thrift store or just a click of your mouse and donate for twenty dollars on the New York Cares site. Easy Sneezy.
Okay, the good news is between coats purchased by people on the New York Cares site, and then people donating coats and sending them to me we have gathered close to three hundred coats. Three hundred coats, pretty good. I’m happy with that. Thousands of followers chipping in a bit for the needy, pretty awesome.
But the truth is this those three hundred coats are the largesse of 19 people – 20 including me.
Never ceases to amaze me, year after year – Often the most generous are not always those with the giant incomes. And year after year, there is a core group of those who step up to the plate and can be counted on to help out.
Proving it doesn’t take a village or the world’s largest online following, it takes twenty big-hearted, generous souls who don’t mind going out of their way and standing in line at the post office or letting go of a coat they might even like, or making the effort to go to the thrift store or the mall and pick up a coat to donate. And then there is Beth M. who went to everyone in her building and all her friends and asked for coats. And a woman on Instagram I don’t even know @betsyboo43 who was going to drive two hours on her day off and she works two jobs, to bring me bags of coats she had collected. I mean come on.
This kind of giving truly makes me believe in the human spirit. Not all human spirit, but it doesn’t have to be all or even a lot as this coat drive always proves. It just takes a few to make a difference.
Which is why whether it’s coats for the cold, food for the hungry, leashes, blankets and dog food taken to animal shelters for the pups and kitties, just pick a cause, gather a few good people and you can do amazing things.
Tomorrow Silas Olivera and I will take close to 300 coats to New York Cares to be given to those in need. And that makes for a very happy holiday in this house.
Since not all people like to be called out. I will go the recovery way and only use the first name and last initial in my thank you list.
THANK YOU WITH ALL MY ♥
Beth M., Paul W., Linda Y., Lydia W., Ursula N., Nancy C., David & Jennifer G., Lydia W, Lynda T, Michele R., Linda S., Beverley J., Lisa V., Elise M., Kathleen R., Deirdre G., Greg S., Patricia and Greg K.,
