Donors provide free coats to 45 youngsters

Tis indeed the season to keep area children warm. So far this winter, 45 new coats purchased through the Superior Community Corporation’s “Coats for Kids” project, have been distributed!

And there will probably be more as the program usually receives a handful of requests during the next couple of months in addition to those received at the start of the winter.

The community corporation collects the money and purchases the coats. Peggy Meyer continues to provide a valuable service and keeps track of who got a coat so there is no fear of ‘double dipping’. Deb Ostdiek is recognized as the master shopper who selects the coats. Sylvia Crilly, the community corporation’s project coordinator, said, “Please thank them if you see them!”

There have been at least two recent heart warming project stories we have learned about this winter.

A woman in Grand Island saw a project shopper buying an entire shopping cart of coats and asked if they were for charity. When she learned where the coats were going and information about the Coats for Kids project, she handed the shopper $50 and wouldn’t give her name.

Generally members of the coats committee do not know the names of those who receive coats, but one day when the coordinator was at the elementary school Jodi Fierstein, school principal, had a young boy try on a coat the coordinator had just delivered to the school. After putting on the coat, he got a big smile on his face and ran over and hugged Mrs. Crilly. Who in sharing the story with the newspaper said, “I was a bit teary after that.”

Several area people have been generous with donating new coats and funds to assist with the project.

Among the Superior Community Corporation projects is the operation of the Vestey Center.