Coats for Kids gets families ready for winter

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Families lined up this weekend to get ready for the winter season as St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church hosted its annual Coats for Kids giveaway event on Saturday, Oct. 12.

For more than 30 years the Coats for Kids event has kept kids warm for the winter, organizing and giving out new or lightly used coats that have been donated to the cause by area people and organizations.

“We have over 300 coats to be distributed,” said coordinator Cherie Schafer. “Everybody is going to get a coat.”

Families filtered through the church on Saturday morning, where kids were able to pick out a new winter coat along with snow pants, boots, gloves and a hat to make a whole winter ensemble.

The event helps families by removing the burden on making sure their children have appropriate winter-wear for the coming season.

Overall, the event gave out 128 coats, 80 pairs of snow pants, 103 pairs of boots and more than 100 hats and gloves.