School collecting Coats for Kids donations

Watertown Middle School is collecting winter jackets for its annual Coats for Kids community service project. Donations can be dropped off at a collection area near the school’s main office and the courtyard door. The drive will end on Jan. 12, according to the school. Organizers are seeking gently used heavy winter coats in any size, and without any stains, rips, or broken zippers. The drive is facilitated by Anton’s Cleaners, which has 42 locations across New England. Last year, 261 schools and 315 corporate and community offices collected, cleaned, and distributed more than 56,300 coats for families in need of assistance, according to the dry-cleaning company. Watertown Middle School last year placed second in the number of coats collected by students, and was rewarded with a $250 cash prize, a $250 gift card toward school supplies, and a pizza party, according to Anton’s.

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Middle School Collecting Coats for Families in Need

Blake Middle School students SIPS (Sudents in Public Service) Students, under the direction of Social Studies teacher, Michael Gow, are holding their annual gently-used coat drive sponsored by Anton’s Cleaners.

Over the past eight years, SIPS students have collected nearly 800 coats. These coats have helped needy families across multiple neighborhoods in Massachusetts.

Parents and students are encouraged to help by donating “gently used” coats through Friday, January 11.

Donation boxes are located at the main entrance to the school.

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Salemwood gives the gift of warmth

The Salemwood School is once again collecting coats and jackets to help those less fortunate stay warm this winter.

“Each year the Salemwood community reaches out to staff, parents, and the community to bring some warmth to those less fortunate than ourselves, many of which are often our own families here in Malden,” said teacher and Salemwood drive coordinator Kathy Sullivan.

The Salemwood Drive is in conjunction with the Coats for Kids program. Now in its 18th year, the program was started by Anton’s Cleaners, working in conjunction with several promotional partners—including Wicked Local and the Malden Observer.

A fifth grade science teacher, Sullivan started the Salemwood drive four years ago, after seeing an advertisement for the annual Anton’s drive.

“It’s a great way to give back, and sometimes our own kids at Salemwood are recipients of the jackets,” she said.
Sullivan said the Salemwood drive typically collects 150-200 jackets. She said the first jacket drives ran only through Christmas, but the drive was soon extended into January.

I had people who called after the holidays, asking if we were still taking jackets,” she said. “A lot of people get new jackets for Christmas and want to donate their old one.”

Acceptable items for the drive include: warm winter jackets that have been slightly used and are of good quality—basically the kid of coat one would give a friend. All sizes are needed, especially XL and pre-K sizes.

Unacceptable items include coats with rips, tears, broken zippers or permanent stains. Sweatshirts, vests, and spring coats are not accepted.

Jacket or coats can be dropped off to the Salemwood School K-4 or 5-8 office until Jan. 19.
For more information about the program, contact Kathy Sullivan or call the school (781) 388-0647.

Read more: Salemwood gives the gift of warmth – Malden, Massachusetts – Malden Observer

Anton’s Cleaners Coats for Kids Drive Hits Home Stretch – Lowell Sun

Anton’s Cleaners has kept thousands of children warm this winter season with its 16th annual Coats for Kids drive.

Donations began Oct. 11 at all of Anton’s 43 locations in the Greater Boston and Southern N.H. areas.

Anton’s hopes to collect 60,000 winter coats by Jan. 8.

“We take the coats in and we clean them in our stores,” said Arthur Anton, Jr., Anton’s Cleaners chief operating officer.

Once the coats are cleaned, they are distributed to partners including MASSCAP, Salvation Army, The Community Giving Tree, Community Teamwork Inc., The Lowell Wish Project, Southern N.H. Services, and Catholic Charities who work hard to assure that every person who needs a warm coat receives one.

“Our distributing partners do a great job making sure they deliver coats to as many children as they can,” said Anton, who was not sure how many coats had been collected to date.

Businesses, such as Enterprise Bank, got involved, collecting winter coats at all of its 17 locations starting after Labor Day. They were able to contribute 400 coats this year.

“When we would reach 250 we’d raise it to 300, and when we reached 300 we’d make it 325,” said Mary Ellen Fitzpatrick, senior vice president of Enterprise Bank. “You know, there’s always a spare coat in your closet you’re not using.”

The bank was so involved they devoted a whole room in the bank to storing the coats.

“A lot of local schools partake in the program to get involved in community service,” said Anton.

The drive has grown dramatically since 1994, when only 2,000 coats were donated, according to Anton.

Last year, Coats for Kids collected close to 58,000 winter coats.

Anton’s Cleaners has cleaned and distributed more than 620,000 winter coats since the drive began.

Promotional partners FOX25, Kiss 108, and Jordan’s Furniture play a major role in spreading the word to the public.

Jordan’s Furniture accepts winter coats at all store locations and awards a $1,200 prize to the first place elementary and middle schools who collect the most winter coats. Jordan’s Furniture also gives tickets to the Verizon IMAX 3D Theater to the winning Girl Scout and Boy Scout troop that collects the most support.

“The generosity of people really allows us to do this,” said Anton.

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Anton’s Hopes to Collect 60,000 Coats for Charities

If Santa brought you a new coat for Christmas, Anton’s Cleaners would like to take your old coat off your hands.

The dry-cleaning chain is collecting gently used coats of all sizes through Jan. 8. Anton’s will clean the coats and donate them to charities that distribute them to those in need in the Boston area.

The collection meets an ever-present need that has increased with the recession, said Arthur Anton Jr., Anton’s chief operating officer.

“There is still a huge need for people that don’t have the ability to buy coats. We look to the generosity of people to make (helping people) possible,” Anton said.

Anton’s annual collection, dubbed Coats for Kids, began in October. Last year, the company collected 60,000 coats — a number they hope to match this year.

Anton’s Cleaners has 43 stores in eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire; its Hamilton location is at 15 Walnut Road, in the Shoppes at Hamilton Crossing plaza.

Donations of warm winter coats should be gently used, without broken zippers, rips or tears. Coats can also be dropped off at all Jordan’s Furniture locations.

The donated coats are distributed through numerous charities, including the Salvation Army, the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, Rosie’s Place and the Boxford-based Community Giving Tree.

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Salem receives coats from Anton’s for their coat closet ministry, which distributes outerwear on the first Saturday of the month, November through February.

The Rev. Daniel Vé©lez-Rivera, one of two priests at the Spanish- and English-language church, said they sometimes see more than 100 people come to receive coats on a Saturday morning.

“Every year, there’s more and more need,” he said. “It’s phenomenal — Anton’s provides us with as many coats as we need. … We’re hoping to be able to expand the goodness Anton’s is doing. It’s wonderful they make it so easy for us.”

St. Peter’s coat closet ministry was started seven years ago by parishioners Phyllis Caliri and Carole MacDonald; last year was the first time they received coats from Anton’s.

Vé©lez-Rivera said his congregation, in turn, is beginning to share coats from Anton’s not only to people through their coat closet ministry but to other area nonprofits and social agencies.

Anton’s held its first Coats for Kids drive in 1994, collecting 2,000 coats. In its 15-year history, Coats for Kids has collected, cleaned and distributed a total of 620,015 coats.

HOW TO HELP

For full details on Coats for Kids, visit antons.com/cfk

St. Peter’s Coat Closet is open 9 a.m. to noon on the first Saturday of each month, November through February. The church is at 24 St. Peter St., Salem. For more information, call 978-745-2291 or visit stpeterssalem.org

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Anton’s Cleaners Conducting Annual Coat Drive – Patriot Ledger

Employees at Anton’s Cleaners shops spend time on Wednesdays and Thursdays cleaning donated coats so they can be distributed to children in need.

This is the 16th year in a row that Anton’s, a dry cleaning business with 43 locations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, has ran a program called Coats for Kids. Last year, Anton’s cleaned about 60,000 donated coats.

The coats get to the recipients through the Coats for Kids Distribution Partners network, which includes organizations like the Salvation Army and Brockton-based Catholic Charities South.

Kids in the day care program at the Agape Child Care and Family Life Center in Brockton are given coats by Catholic Charities South if they look unprepared for winter weather.

“You can’t play in the snow if you don’t have a coat,” said Nicki Meade Draves, development coordinator for Catholic Charities South.

The Salvation Army handed out more than 6,000 coats it received from Anton’s at a recent Christmas charity event in Boston.

The coats were organized by age and gender, and people could walk in and get coats for the whole family, said Kimberly Santos, special events coordinator for the Salvation Army.

The goal is to reach a total of 60,000 donated coats by Jan. 8, said Arthur Anton Jr., chief operating officer of Anton’s Cleaners.

The need for warm clothes is very real, as was made evident by the Sunday-Monday blizzard, Anton said.

“All you have to do is look at kids waiting at bus stops” – many are not wearing clothing warm enough for the weather, he said.

Coat donations will be accepted at all 43 Anton’s Cleaner’s shops and all Jordan’s Furniture locations through Jan. 8.

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Shrewsbury kids come through in a pinch… – Shrewsbury Lantern

Today was the day that many kids have been waiting for, as a dozen members of the Shrewsbury Leaders of Tomorrow group made Christmas a little brighter for 500 Worcester Elementary school students with their annual winter coat distribution.

Teamwork was the name of the game, as families and local business owners ran all over Massachusetts last week, picking up over 700 coats, donated to the Shrewsbury based Massachusetts Children’s Fund, via the Anton’s cleaners Coats for Kids program.  As shuttles ran to and from Lowell, Methuen, Medfield, and Framingham, the stockpile of children’s coats began to take shape, and it all culminated with this mornings fantastic coat give away program at a local elementary school in Worcester, in which almost 90% of the students are on the free and reduced lunch program, and few had decent winter coats.  To see the love and compassion with which our Shrewsbury students hand fitted each person with a new winter coat, was simply inspiring.  Obviously, the values of empathy and hard work that they’ve learned here in Shrewsbury over the years has really made it’s mark, and they worked for hours until all the kids had a coat for themselves, and in many cases and extra to bring home for a sibling or two.

Special thanks go to LOT member Gracie Rocco, who was the team leader for the project, her mom and dad who helped along the way, and Nick Martinelli for being the best pick-up driver ever.   More thanks to the students who came this morning, Nick Revelli, Jesse Levine, Jack Snyder, Shannon Bouffard, Brooke Johnson, Liz St. Pierre, Garret Lehan and several others.  Last but not least, thanks to the great staff at Oak Middle School for allowing the kids to take a couple hours away from their formal “lessons” to learn what may have been the most valuable lesson of the year – namely that they need to be grateful each and every day for all they have.

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Coats for Kids Program Partners with Schools – Wilmington Advocate

In the past 15 years, the annual Coats for Kids campaign at Anton’s Cleaners, which has locations in Tewksbury and Wilmington, has collected over 600,000 coats, with more than half coming from the efforts of students throughout the region.

With this year’s Coats for Kids now in full swing, Anton’s Cleaners is once again looking to schools in eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire to become involved and help their others stay warm this winter.

Along with benefiting their communities, participating schools will enter the School Rewards Program, which recognizes the top three elementary and middle schools that collect the most coats per student enrolled. Prizes include $1,200 of furnishings for the Student Area from Jordan’s Furniture, a $250 gift certificate to Paul’s TV, a sundae and pizza party, cash rewards, gift certificates for school supplies, and a visit by a FOX 25 Meteorologist.

Along with the prizes, the genuine goodwill generated by the students resonates throughout each school.

“Every morning during Coats for Kids a student makes an announcement about the dates of the drive, the location of the collection boxes, how the coats are distributed to the needy, and the daily coat count,” said Maryfran Doiron, a seventh-grade science teacher at R.J. Grey Junior High in Acton, which has been collecting coats for 15 years. “This builds enthusiasm throughout the building as the coat count number rises daily. I am often stopped in the hall by students and faculty alike asking how we are doing relative to previous years.”

All participating schools receive posters and flyers to help promote Coats for Kids.

“We provide the tools the students need to be successful,” said Arthur Anton, Jr., chief operating officer of Anton’s Cleaners. “And they provide the determination and enthusiasm that has made Coats for Kids such a success.”

Schools wishing to participate in Coats for Kids, which will be collecting gently worn coats through Jan. 8, 2011, can register online at www.antons.com/cfk/register.html, or by calling Danielle Kempe at 617-328-0069 ext. 26 or by e-mail at cfk@grahamcomm.com.

Anton’s Cleaners is a family-owned, Massachusetts business that first opened its doors in Lowell, in 1913. The company has 43 dry cleaning stores throughout Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. For locations, visit www.antons.com.

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Anton’s Cleaners’ coat drive begins Monday

With four children between ages 7 and 14, the Kelley family is always buying new coats before winter.

But, rather than throw out gently-used jackets that no longer fit, the family donates them to those in need through an annual program run by Anton’s Cleaners at Ralph Talbot Elementary School in Weymouth.

“It’s a win-win for everyone involved,” said mother Jennifer Kelley, who serves on the school’s parent council. “Parents get to clean out their closets and the children get to learn the benefits of donating to a charity.”

The Talbot school is one of more than 100 schools participating in Anton’s Cleaners’ 16th annual Coats for Kids drive.

The Tewksbury-based cleaners hope to collect 60,000 coats this year, a far cry from the 2,000 they received in their first year, said Arthur C. Anton, Jr., the cleaner’s chief operating officer.

The coats are cleaned and distributed to social service agencies in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, he said.

“I know a lot of people have several coats that they haven’t worn in two years,” Anton said. “If you haven’t worn it for two years, there are people that need it more than your closet.”

The program accepts children’s or adult coats. Beginning Monday, items can be dropped off at any Anton’s Cleaners or Jordan’s Furniture location.

Anton’s Cleaners has stores in Braintree, Brockton, Canton, Easton, Marshfield and Stoughton.

The program ends Jan. 8. For more information, visit www.antons.com/cfk or call 800-659-0069.

Brian Benson may be reached at bbenson@ledger.com.

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