THUNDER BAY – With the temperature growing ever colder in the city, it's important for residents to be able to keep warm and a group of teachers has been working for the past 17 years to help make sure everyone has a warm jacket when they need it.
Elementary teachers with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board have been hard at work over the past few weeks collecting and cleaning used coats and warm clothing for their annual Coats for Kids campaign.
“It's called coats for kids, but we also have coats for adults, and we have other outerwear and anyone who needs a coat or outerwear is welcome to come and see us at Victoriaville, no questions asked. We would love to meet them, we'd love to connect, and we'd love to help out,” said Sarah Polowski, chair of OECTA human rights committee.
Polowski said that the response and support from the community to the campaign has been great to see and with all the donations received, a lot of people now have access to warm winter clothing.
“It's wonderful. We are a Catholic school board, so you know, for those of us in the board, this is our mission. This is what we want to do. We want to love and serve and help, no questions asked, and we know that we're all in this together. It doesn't matter who you are, we would love to help,” she said.
“It's really great. The response is wonderful. People are really happy to get new things. I just saw a little one who was very excited about her shoes, so I'm really thrilled that the response is positive and that we are helping each other out. It's a great feeling.”
Donated clothing is available from Victoriaville Mall from Nov. 6 through 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on Nov. 11 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. with leftover items being donated to the Underground Gym and Precious Bundles.
“So, it's not just staying with the Thunder Catholic, we're extending ourselves to the broader community. We know there's a lot of people who need help and we're really happy that we can help,” said Polowski.
While this year's donation drive is over, people can still drop off cleaned winter coats or hold onto them until the next donation drive in the autumn of 2024.
