Coat Call – for New York Cares

Catching up last week with Dan Feinstein – MR’s first fashion director with whom we launched MR magazine – he reminded me about the annual New York Cares Coat Drive. Each December, New York Cares collects winter coats and distributes them to men, women and children who would otherwise be left in the cold. I personally have several coats I want to donate – and I would like to invite you and your company to join me.

With so much industry involvement in so many wonderful charities at Christmas time, I know it’s unfair to single out just one. But as someone who hates being cold, I can’t help but worry about the 90 percent of homeless adults who need a warm coat each winter. And it’s not just the homeless: thousands of New Yorkers are forced to make a choice between buying a winter coat and putting food on their family’s table.

There are many ways you and your employees can help this year’s coat drive. You can:

• Donate your fall/winter overstock, which can be shipped directly to the NY Cares warehouse;
• Host a coat collection, setting up a collection site where your employees, their families and friends can bring new or gently-used coats they no longer need;
• Simply encourage your employees to donate coats at participating locations throughout the NY Metro region; and/or
• Make a financial donation – to help make the coat drive possible.

In the past two decades, New York Cares has distributed more than 1 million coats collected and donated by generous individuals and companies like yours. This year, the goal is to gather at least 70,000 more winter coats – and there is an especially pressing needs for men’s and children’s coats.

You can find more information about the coat drive at www.nycares.org, or contact Dan Feinstein at 212-221-7909 or at daniel.feinstein@yahoo.com. And please let us know if you decide to make a contribution. That’s the kind of news we will happily publicize on MRketplace.com!