NEWBERRY — The Newberry County Young Professionals, the Muller Center at Newberry College, The Rotary Club of Newberry and the Newberry County Literacy Council are teaming up for the Second Annual Newberry County Young Professional Coat Drive.

The Coat Drive began on Oct. 15, and will go until Nov. 17.

This year’s coat drive will benefit high school students within the county, last year’s drive benefited elementary school students.

“Last year we were very successful. I don’t have an exact number of what we collected, but we were able to serve our elementary students in need in the City of Newberry,” said Samantha Baird, Newberry County Young Professionals secretary.

The decision to have a coat drive came about last year when the Young Professionals assisted the Muller Center at Newberry College with their coat drive.

It was organized by Teiara Turner who served at the AmeriCorp Vista. She was the brains of the event last year, and because it went so well, we wanted to continue the tradition for another year,” Baird said. “This year, we are working with the new AmeriCorp Vista, DeVonte Davis.”

The organizations involved in the Coat Drive will be collecting gently used and new coats, jackets, scarves, warm hats, socks and gloves, sizes child’s large through 3XL. Baird notes that they cannot accept monetary donations.

There is no set goal for the Coat Drive, but Baird said they would like to see as many Newberry County students served as possible.

“If we have additional donations we will be reaching out to other organizations to donate our collections to ensure that we are serving as many students as possible,” Baird said.

Drop off locations for the Coat Drive can be found throughout Newberry County. Newberry County Chamber of Commerce (1209 Caldwell Street, Newberry), Newberry College Keller Hall (2100 College Street, Newberry), Sissy’s Boutique of Whitmire (159 Main Street, Whitmire) and Prosperity Drug Company (101 N. Main Street, Prosperity).

“Our community is amazing and we knew that we wanted to expand our reach this year. We wanted to make sure our drop off locations were more convenient for possible donors and to show our communities that regardless of where you attend school, or which zip code you live in, we are all here for one another,” Baird said.

Once the Coat Drive ends on Nov. 17 the coats will be delivered to students in need at all Newberry County high schools.

During the time of the Coat Drive, the Newberry Young Professionals will be hosting an event, and Baird said they welcome donations, wherever and whenever they host an event.

“Newberry County Young Professionals next event is this week at Do-Si-Jo’s Corn Maze in Newberry on Oct. 19 beginning at 5:30 p.m. Donors are also welcome to contact myself (samanthapbaird@gmail.com) or DeVonte Davis (devonte.davis@newberry.edu). We would be happy to meet you to pick up donations,” Baird said.

Likewise, Kimberly Kitchens, president of The Rotary Club of Newberry, said they will have two more meetings during the course of the Coat Drive, Oct. 27 and Nov. 10. She said that they are reminding members to bring donations during the meetings.

The donation box that can be found at the Newberry Chamber of Commerce.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_IMG_06661.jpgThe donation box that can be found at the Newberry Chamber of Commerce. Andrew Wigger | The Newberry Observer

By Andrew Wigger

awigger@newberryobserver.com

Reach Andrew Wigger at 803-276-0625 ext. 1867 or on Twitter @ TheNBOnews.