For 13 years, Trinity United Methodist Church, located at 5700 Broadway Ave, has hosted an annual Coat Giveaway. Averaging around 500-600 coats donated by the public, the church gives away about half, and those that remain are given to another organization to be distributed around the Golden Belt and other areas around Kansas to those in need.

This year’s coat giveaway was on Saturday, Oct. 21.

“We started with 545 coats of various sizes, mostly men’s and women’s, and a small selection of children’s coats but those go pretty fast,” said Karla Essmiller, outreach coordinator. “We start with the racks packed as full and as close as we can get them and then anything left over will go to Live Like Jesus Today and Kingdom Campus and they’ll be distributed to those in need.”

Trinity United Methodist Church takes donations for the coat drive in September and then gives them away in October, Essmiller said.

“We’re always in need of children’s coats and also larger plus sizes. Applebee’s did a Together We Care fundraiser for us this year to help us purchase some kids’ coats if we need to.”

The church accepts donations for their annual coat at any time but their big giveaway drive will begin again next September, with the giveaway date occurring, typically, the second or third weekend in October.