Northwestern College Collects 198 Coats via its One Warm Coat® Drive

Northwestern College’s Lauren Schumacher (left) and Brenda Christy revel amidst the coats, hats, gloves, etc. collected during its One Warm Coat® Drive, which will benefit Cornerstone Community Outreach in Chicago.

Thanks to the efforts of Northwestern College’s Rosemont administrative office staff, a local coat drive was spearheaded via One Warm Coat®, resulting in 198 coats being collected to benefit local adults and children in need! Northwestern College, a 114 year old family-owned higher education institution, launched its coat drive on December 4 and concluded it on January 18. In addition to the 198 coats, also collected were: 65 Scarves, 43 pairs of gloves, 34 hats, 6 earmuffs, 2 pairs of children’s snow pants, and 1 pair of boots!

Northwestern College teamed up with One Warm Coat®, a national non-profit organization, to collect these clean, gently used coats to be given to local agencies for distribution. The specific agency that Northwestern College’s donations went to was Cornerstone Community Outreach on Clifton Avenue in Chicago. Cornerstone’s mission is to shelter, feed and clothe the homeless in Chicago.

With forty-five million Americans currently living in poverty, sadly for these families and individuals a warm coat is a budget extra they simply cannot afford. Northwestern College invited area businesses including Cisco Systems, the Chicago Family Business Council, its NC Online and Chicago Campuses and other businesses in its 9501 Technology Drive office complex in Rosemont to join in and get their members and employees to participate. Boxes were placed in the lobbies of the College and these businesses, as well as in the lobby of 9501 Technology Drive in Rosemont where the College’s administrative offices are housed, just steps east of the Fashion Outlets of Chicago Outlet Mall.

One Warm Coat is a national non-profit organization that works to provide free, warm coats to any person in need and raises awareness of the vital need for warm coats. One Warm Coat supports individuals, groups, companies and organizations across the country by providing the tools and resources needed to hold successful coat drives. Since its inception in 1992, One Warm Coat has worked with its volunteers to give away over 4 million coats.