Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

While the snow has melted in our neck of the woods, we thought now was a good time to reflect. As Georgians hunker down to stay warm or don their winter gear to play in the snow, many are not so lucky.

One Warm Coat, a national non-profit organization reached out and asked us to spread the word about their organization. Their model provides resources to individuals, groups or organizations to put together a coat drive and donate them to community partners. According to President and CEO Beth Amodio, the organization does background checks and ensures the partnering non-profits get the coats to the people who need them.

“The first and easiest way [to help] is to clean out your closets, go to our map and find a place nearby to drop them off at a coat drive. But the second, and I guess bigger lift is to actually hold a coat drive,” said Amodio.

We often have businesses and organizations reach out to us and we try to focus on those that directly impact our community. One Warm Coat does not currently have a non-profit partner in LaGrange. The closest places to drop off coats are either Fayetteville or Auburn. At first, it seemed to be something we would not write about as it is not local. However, LaGrange could benefit from coat drives. The fact that there is no partnering organization in Troup County is something worth writing about.

While donating a coat to Goodwill or thrift shops is a good and necessary act, having a system like One Warm Coat would ensure that second-hand coats avoid landfills and go to the people who need them most.

“The way that our program works is we partner with 1500 nonprofit organizations across the US…we’re constantly trying to grow that especially in more rural areas, who are underrepresented,” said Amodio. “But if somebody wants to hold a coat drive and we don’t have a nonprofit partner locally, we will find a nonprofit partner to receive the coat.”

Amodio says all non-profits are vetted carefully before becoming partners to ensure they will not “give them away about discrimination.”

The need for a service like this has grown over the years.

“We’ve been around for 32 years, and we have seen the need, unfortunately, growing fairly steadily over the last few years…there’s been a pretty sharp uptick in the number of people experiencing homelessness just over the past year.”

Amodio said this seems to be attributed to the increasingly high cost of living. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, between 2017 and 2023 the rate of homelessness increased by over 20 percent. Almost half of the 12,294 Georgians who experienced homelessness were unsheltered, meaning they lived in places not meant for human habitation.

For many a coat is used to alleviate discomfort, for others it is a matter of safety.

There is also an environmental sustainability component to donating coats.

“A bunch of people got new items for the holidays…It’s a great time to clean up, make some space in your closet for all the new stuff that you got,” Amodio said.

The need for dry and warm clothes is not exclusive to winter.

“It’s not just a matter of it’s starting to get cold, here’s your coat. You’re good until summer…They’re moving around a lot. The coats tend to get torn, wet, dirty, lost, stolen, left behind,” said Amodio. “It’s sort of one of those renewable needs that is ongoing.”

The purpose of this article is not to preach or necessarily to promote a certain organization, although One Warm Coat seems to be a good one. Instead, it is written in hopes that when we see the temperatures go down, and get excited that school is canceled or we can work from home, we also remember that there are people without proper shelter in Troup County.

“We want people to have a way that they can make a tangible impact in their community…we are pairing them up with nonprofits that are already there in their community, serving people, and those nonprofits have a huge variety of missions,” said Amodio. “If it’s a nonprofit that has clients that need warmth, they are welcome to be part of our network.”

While finding that winter coat in the closet, maybe set one aside to donate or consider starting a coat drive of your own. You can bring it straight to local organizations or reach out to the larger ones. Helping someone get warm could bring some warmth to you.