With temperatures dropping in the Tri State area the need is greater than ever. Hot 96 has teamed up with Don’s Cleaner’s for the 20th Annual Coat a Kid. Drop off new or unused coats at any Don or Claytons cleaners and they will be cleaned, sterilized and distributed to those most in need this season.

Coat A Kid was started by Andy Clayton some time in the late 80’s or 90’s when he owned Clayton’s Cleaners  (When I asked him about it, he wasn’t sure exactly when).  We bought the Clayton’s business in 2004 and have carried on the program since then, so this is our 20^th year of running this program.

We’ve been collecting about 3000 coats per year for the program and distributing them through the Evansville Christian Life Center and the Salvation Army.  They have awesome capabilities in getting these coats distributed to those in need, so they have become very important partners to have with us in this program.  We can focus on the collection, cleaning, and prepping of the coats while they work to setup the distribution by size and work with families that have certain needs for certain sizes.  Of course we would always like to see more coats and my goal has been to see more than 4000 come in.

After collection, the coats are brought to our cleaning plant located next to Garvin Park and sorted by color and weight.  They are usually laundered, but sometimes wool coats are donated and they may get drycleaned if the care instruction doesn’t allow laundering.  We make sure the coats are cleaned and sterilized before sending them on.  We then line dry the coats and count them before they are delivered to The Evansville Christian Life Center and the Salvation Army.  Some other smaller organizations will also contact us and request coats of certain sizes, so we try to accommodate them when we can. 

Money is sometimes donated to us for this program and if someone wishes to do that instead, we’ll be glad to take it.  Money collected will be deposited and pooled together and then used to go and purchase new coats of certain sizes that are in short supply.  Special requests are typically filled this way, especially for newborn and infant sizes.  Toddler through size 12 are also always in short supply and money collected will go to fill those requests as best as we can.  Customers also will purchase brand new coats and drop them off with us or even have them shipped directly to us.  We received a donation from as far away as Virginia once.  That person had a connection to someone local in our area and was so impressed with the Coat-A-Kid program they bought and shipped some coats directly to us.  Some people also do it anonymously, so the generosity that is brought out by this program is always humbling.

Adult size coats are welcome too for the older kids, we will always find a way to use them.

Various businesses and organizations around Evansville also help to setup coat collections for us and we greatly appreciate what they can do for us. Some places are able to collect a few hundred coats and drop them off all at once in crates or we pick them up by the van load.  Anyone with questions about how they can help can reach us by calling 812-424-9979 or email us at registry@dci-cleaners.com