It’s That Time of Year
It feels like just yesterday I was asking you guys to help with my annual New York Cares Coat Drive.
I was looking at the numbers and we have been pretty awesome for quite a while. I think we are approaching nine hundred coats donated, bought and donated and if you count the coats some of you have given in your own communities, we are way over a thousand.
Not bad for a little blog, with a sometimes blogger at its helm.
The number that is not so good is the uptick in homeless people in not only our major cities but smaller ones as well.
Homelessness in this country is at a crisis point. Men. Women, LGBT, Trans. Children. It covers all races and genders. And this administration does not seem to care much.
So, this year I want to reach higher and give more coats. Keep more people warm.
I have been collecting them in my office since last summer. I have four bags. Once a week I see a coat in my closet I don’t need and someone else does, I take it out before I have the chance to reconsider. Or I Marie Kondo it and ask if it gives me joy?
We used to be able to register as a team. It’s not so easy anymore. But we are a team nonetheless.
Tracey Jackson’s Coats is how I registered it. Though not sure you can log into that.
But all you have to do is ~~~~
If you want to send a coat to me, email me and I will send you my address. I will even reimburse you for postage. Jackets. Heavy sweaters. Gloves and Mittens are all needed.
If you want to skip the Post Office of it all you can click on this link and for twenty dollars buy a coat and it will go to someone in need. Or you can buy two or three. Tax deductable!
You can also text a coat to the number on the photo above.
Just let me know so I can tally it all up.
You can send me a check if that is easier and I can buy for you. People have done that.
If you walk around your town or city and want to give back where you live, find a shelter, Goodwill, and donate a few.
Or you know if you see a homeless person and you have the coat in a bag, ask them if they need it. That counts too!
You can send me that number and I will use it as coats collected.
As I always say as long as a person is not left out in the cold without a coat, I don’t care where they are.
And let’s just all try and be kind and generous – this has been a sucky year for a lot of people. I know that.
But we all have roofs over our heads and coats in the closet. Think of the petty shit we complain about. I know I do. So, let’s make this a better Christmas for some people who really need our help and largesse.
And please don’t’ forget children. If you have kids you know how quickly they grow and those coats that just sit around.
I’m raiding my kid’s closet.
Shhh… I already have.
I thank you in advance.
Let’s keep this tradition going.
I know you are all a very Wallycentric group now. So stopping at nothing – I have discussed this with Wally and he asked a very profound question. Why is it he has two lovely coats and so many people have none?
He says he’s just a badly bred puppy mill Frenchie with anger management issues and he has coats and sweaters. And he eats them. He doesn’t get it. I had to tell him the world is not always a fair place.
He also said he hates his coat and would be happy to donate it to any dog coat drive.
But actually, I do take my dog’s old coats and sweaters to the shelter as so many dogs do need them. So wow, if you can do that, next year we will have Wally’s Coat Drive for Animals as well.
So, if not for me, then for Wally. Wally does not like to see cold, sad, coatless people in the streets.
He also doesn’t like to pee wearing a coat, but that is another story.
