Bishop Kelley Students Organize Coat Drive For Trav's Coats For Kids

As we head into the winter months, more families need coats.

Every year, people donate lots of coats to Catholic Charities for our annual Trav's Coats for Kids drive. 

Students from Bishop Kelley collected hundreds of coats that were brought to Yale Cleaners before Catholic Charities will distribute them to families who need a little help staying warm this winter. 

"Every year I've brought in a coat and tried to help out as much as I can," said Tristan Jones.

Jones is a senior at Bishop Kelley. This is the eighth year the school has been involved in the Coats for Kids drive and as student council president, Tristan is in charge of getting students to step up and help. 

"Of course with COVID-19 there are a lot of people that are still at home distance learning, and it's been a challenge to get people here to donate of course; but we have still had a lot of kids come in and donate," said Jones. 

The school collected 456 coats to be donated to Catholic Charities. Unfortunately, the need is greater this year than last year, but Catholic Charities said the donations are down. 

"We're a little surprised. We started off with a large number of coats and we're just waiting on whatever is turned in at this point is what we'll get," said Kelly Cassidy.

Cassidy said they are in need of more baby and youth size coats, which is why she said the donation from Bishop Kelley will really help. 

"This is just one of the ways we can help out other people," saod Cassidy.

New and gently used coat donations can be dropped off at any Yale Cleaners location in the area through December 31st. 

For more information about Trav's Coats for Kids, click here.