Coats 4 Kids

MOSES LAKE — It’s not winter yet by a long shot, but the first hint of cool air is beginning to remind Basin residents that it won’t be too much longer. The Rotary Club of Moses Lake, this year with the help of 4-H, is beginning to collect coats to help keep kids warm when the air gets nippy. 

The club’s annual Coats 4 Kids program will start off with a coat drive Oct. 5 at the Penn Plaza parking lot, 1035 N. Stratford Road. 

“We felt like we were a little bit short of what the need was last year, so this is the first time that we’ve had a formal coat drive like this,” said club President Amy Raymond. “It’s an effort to increase the number of coats that we’ll be able to distribute later.” 

The need in Moses Lake is pretty great. Last year’s drive brought in about 600 coats, organizers told the Columbia Basin Herald at the time, and Raymond said it still wasn’t enough to meet the demand. 

In the past, the club has relied on drop boxes at businesses around town to collect coats, Raymond said, and some of those will be operational this year as well, for those who can’t make it to the Oct. 5 event. The coats will be distributed Oct. 26. 

All coats are welcome, Raymond said, as long as they’re either in new or gently used condition. Cobie’s Dry Cleaning donates cleaning services so each recipient has a fresh, clean coat to wear. 

“We want them to be wearable for a season or two, so we want them to be in pretty good condition,” Raymond said. “Our focus is generally on kids, so we want kids’ sizes. But older kids are often wearing adult sizes, so really, any coat that's in good condition would be completely acceptable.” 

Elementary and middle school sizes were where the club ran short last year, Raymond said. Last year’s drive brought in a lot of sweatshirts and sweaters rather than warm jackets, she said, which don’t really cut it during the winter months. The drive doesn’t include hats or gloves or anything like that, she added. 

“We’re really just about the coats,” she said. 

Coats 4 Kids drive 

9 a.m.-noon Oct. 5 

Penn Plaza Parking Lot 

1035 N. Stratford Road, Moses Lake 

    Alex Town, one of the organizers of the 2022 Coats 4 Kids drive organized by the Rotary Club of Moses Lake, watches over a table of coats waiting to be distributed. This year’s drive begins Oct. 5.