CHARLOTTE — The annual 9 Coats for Kids Drive is fully underway, and every Charlotte Fire House is serving as a donation site.
“We’re out in the public every day, or at least try to be, so it’s very important to us to do the Coats for Kids because it’s another way to give back,” Charlotte Fire Captain Austin Ely told Channel 9’s Elsa Gillis.
Together, we’re asking for new and gently used coat donations to keep kids warm this winter.
It’s a personal matter for many fire officials.
“I have a daughter. She waits out to the bus stop to go to school, and it’s sad when I go to work some mornings, and I see kids at the bus stop with no jackets on or things that don’t really fit them properly, and I can see them shivering,” firefighter Gerald Singleton said.
You can drop off donations at any of Charlotte Fire’s 43 firehouses, day or night, through December.
“As firefighters, we’re trusted to enter people’s homes. That gives us the opportunity to see people in all different stages of life, in all different stages of need,” Charlotte Fire’s Mallory Gazerro said. “Being able to see that and then also turning around and being able to do something about that need is a blessing.”
You can use the map below to find a donation location near you.
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