WILMINGTON — As the chilling winds make the need for warmer clothes more vital, a local gym is hoping to help.
Vital Fitness on Prairie Avenue started its fourth annual holiday coat drive Nov. 1, through Dec. 1, where locals can drop off new and lightly used coats. They’re also accepting gloves, mittens, hats, scarfs and other winter accessories.
Amy Zimmerman, owner of Vital Fitness, said they started the coat drive as one of the many community projects they do, after moving to their Prairie Avenue location.
“We went up in donations every year,” said Zimmerman. “Last year we gathered almost 250 coats, which was wonderful. Some of them were even new coats. We even had people that actually went on Amazon, or went to the mall or Target, and purchased a handful of new coats in all sizes.”
She said they take coats for both kids and adults. Once the drive ends, the coats will be divided by size, then be decided where the coats will go.
During the first two years, the coats were given strictly to the homeless shelter, then recently they decided to give them out to the schools.
“One of my personal training clients is a guidance counselor at one of the Wilmington schools,” she said. “She kind of expressed how it would be fantastic and that there are a lot of kids who come here with no coats.”
This years marks the first time Vital Fitness decided to accept winter clothing beyond coats.
“If somebody didn’t have any gently used coats to donate and didn’t have the funds to donate new coats, they can go a different route and do hats, gloves and scarfs,” said Zimmerman.
There’s no exact goal, but they are hoping to possibly get 300.
“It’s just such a nice thing, especially for the children, in the area,” she said.
Donations can be dropped off at the front desk at 1050 Prairie Avenue, Wilmington, during their business hours. For more information visit vitalohio.com or call 937-556-5779.
