Great Bend’s Community Coat Drive concludes Saturday when free coats will be available from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 5700 Broadway Ave.
Organizer Karla Essmiller said everyone is welcome with no income restrictions. There are coats for all ages in all sizes, although there is no guarantee of what is available.
“We have around 650 coats and jackets to give away,” she said. “Any coats not distributed will be taken by Ellinwood’s ‘Live Like Jesus Today’ organization to be given to the homeless in Wichita.”
This project started three years ago, first as a neighborhood drive and then spreading to the entire community. The 2014 drive ran from Sept. 1-15, with people bringing their “gently used” coats and jackets to the church, or to a Great Bend USD 428 school or to Master Cleaners in Great Bend. Master Cleaners professionally cleaned all of the coats.