The following is a brief of the story. For the full version, see the Tuesday, Nov. 25 print edition of the BDN.

 In need of a coat this winter? Teresa Searles, property manager of Boone Village Apartments and Boone Village Shopping Center in Boonville, is conducting the area’s second annual coat drive – except this time she’s adding blankets and non-perishable foods to the mix.

The coat drive started last year when Searles received numerous calls for coats from some of her tenants as well as calls from principals at Boonville schools, probation and parole officers who called for families they deal with, and from Linda Sappington of the Cooper County Human Development Corporation.

Searles then went to the businesses in the Boone Village Shopping Center and placed boxes to collect donated coats. She also got in touch with Savvy Seconds, which last year donated coats for those sizes that Searles didn’t receive.

Cash donations were also accepted last year, with more than $1,600 raised. The money was used to buy coats as well as to make Christmas baskets for three area families. The baskets included: a turkey, rolls, stuffing mix, a bag of potatoes, green beans, oranges, apples, milk and bread. For families with children, one gift was purchased per child as well as blankets and stocking stuffers.
“The coat drive started out small. We’re the only company/business to do a coat drive in the Boonville area. We couldn’t have pulled this off without the help of the community,” Searles said. “I got lots of donations and support last year.”

One family whose house burnt down last year was given blankets and clothing that was purchased with some of the money that was donated last year.

“We had a really good turn out for the first year last year with the coat donations,” Searles said. As for what kind of coats can be donated, “As long as they’re not soiled or ripped, they can be donated. We don’t expect brand new stuff but we did have some donations last year that were brand new coats.”