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Photo by Christopher Lugo/Staff Macon County students engaging during a workshop at the Sustainability Summit at Highlands Biological Station.
The Mountaintop Rotary Club in Highlands had a successful first Winter Coat Drive, receiving 553 coats over the past couple months.
Mountaintop Rotary representative Duncan Greenlee said they have done a coat drive before, but not on this scale.
“We started doing this last year, but we only received 20 to 30 coats initially,” Greenlee said. “This year we received 10 times that, along with 60 hats, 60 gloves and scarves.”
Greenlee said a lot of things culminated for them to receive this many donations.
“A lot of things worked in our favor,” Greenlee said. “We had five churches work with us as drop off sites; the Presbyterian Church, Highlands United Methodist Church, the First Baptist Church, Community Bible and Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church. We also had a drop off site at Select Bank. Due to the generosity of these people, we were able to give back to the community. Fibber McGee’s Closet also donated any coats that they had there for a while. We really appreciate this community responding to a need.”
Several members of Mountaintop Rotary worked together to make the Winter Coat Drive happen. Berry Howard helped pick up money for coats and bought more coats with money donated, Lorreen and Jim Spencer bought coats and led the Facebook effort, Bill Kirkman helped promote the coat drive, Dr. Baumrocker spent time traveling to Asheville and Atlanta to pick up coats from money donated.
“Everybody in our club was very generous with their time,” Greenlee said.
The Mountaintop Rotary Club also partnered with the Highlands Emergency Council to distribute the coats.
“The Highlands Emergency Council would like to thank the Mountaintop Rotary Club for partnering with us on the coat drive,” Marie Johnson said. “With the Rotary’s help, we were able to give out 553 coats. This included both adult and children’s sizes. We also distributed hats, gloves, scarves and socks to people in need. We also want to thank the local churches that have donated time and energy knitting and crocheting winter hats and scarves to help keep the community warm.”
Johnson said none of this would be possible without the community.
“A thank you goes out to this amazing community that opens its closets, brings items and volunteers its time in many different ways,” Johnson said. “To those that stop in and unload trucks, sort clothing and pack boxes, thank you. The Highlands Emergency Council would not function without the assistance of the entire Highlands Community.”
Greenlee said the club looks forward to making the Winter Coat Drive bigger and better, already starting early to have more pickup spots around the community.
- By Christopher Lugo