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November 19, 2009

Coat drive aims for warmth

Delta Head Start children receive coats

Toni Hopper

DUNCAN — People began pulling their coats out of closets when the temperatures turned brisk, but not everyone has a coat to bundle up in.

So, several area professionals have made a committment this holiday season to see that at least 30 young children will get new coats. The children enrolled in the Delta Head Start program will be a little warmer when the holidays roll around because of members of the Duncan Association of Realtors.

“We have a huge coat drive going on. Last year and this year we were helping Delta Head Start because we realize there was a huge need,” Sheryl Spradling said. “It was a huge success, so we’re doing it again.” Spradling, on the association’s board of directors, is not on the committee, but she’s happy to spread the word about the community-service project.

Association Executive Veronica Ibarra and committee members are hoping that more than just those children, and even a few adults, will benefit from the second annual coat drive. The only problem so far is lack of adult names who may need coats, Ibarra said Wednesday. The committee will also make sure that the coats donated are distributed to those in need.

The Delta Head Start children’s coat project was started in 2008, when association members heard that some children needed warm coats to make it through the winter. That basic need was something they believed they could help fill.

The program was a success and this year the committee and members agreed that if they could help more than just the 30 children enrolled in the program, they would. So, they expanded it to include adults.

Committee member Michelle Malbrough is a single mother who is glad to be involved with the project.

“I’m sure some of the kids are from single-parent homes,” she said.

Jessie Murphree, chairperson of the committee, said the association has held coat drives in the past.

Ibarra said that new and “gently used” coats are being accepted. Only new coats will be provided to the Delta Head Start children.

“If someone has a need, we’ll try to set them up for a coat,” she said.

“We wanted to open it to everyone, not just limit it to children, but to all of those who are in need of coats.”

Committee members in addition to Murphree and Malbrough are Katie Iverson, Carol Buckholts, Lisa Young, Darla Davis, Debbie Lynn Benton, Linda Choate, Nita Mitchell and Melvin Jones. Some of the committee members are not realtors but work in various banks and other establishments. To recommend a person for the coat list, or to donate to the project, contact Ibarra at the association’s office, 580-252-4884.

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