By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The annual Coats for Kids drive is ongoing with Ineeda Cleaners in Hutchinson.
"We have a big window of opportunity for people," said Rachel Nelson with Ineeda. "We do it the entire month of October. We've started collecting coats. We have a big buggy in our front lobby. You can just come in and put those in the buggy and every night we've been taking those coats down to our production facility to get those started in the process of cleaning and dry cleaning to get those ready for distribution."
It's important as kids grow for them to have a coat that fits when winter hits.
"It could be even a bigger need than we've seen in the past," Nelson said. "The reason I say that is, we had a very strange school year last year. Some kids were not even in school, to where they didn't have outdoor recess and maybe last year they got by with a sweatshirt. Maybe this year, with those kids getting even bigger, they might really need a coat, because they might not even know where their coat is, or they've outgrown it."
Ineeda appreciates the work the Salvation Army does in the distribution, as well, that takes place in November.
"We kind of do the front end, the grunt work, so to speak," Nelson said. "Then, when they put those in their gym for distribution, they do such a nice job displaying them and organizing them and make it like a shopping experience. That just elevates, I think, the whole program. I'm very thankful for what Salvation Army does and they put a lot of hours into it, just like we do."
Ineeda is open to take coats at 13th and Main in Hutchinson Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. or Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.