Children get winter coats at King College giveaway

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Charlotte Duff had a handful of coats slung over one arm and a passel of children playing underfoot. She sorted through the racks of children’s jackets set up in Kline Gymnasium at King College on Saturday morning to find the right size – and color – for the children she was outfitting.

“It helps a lot,” she said. “If you have two children, you can save $40 that you can put in the food bill or something.”

Duff and about 70 other families got free coats, hats and gloves for their children Saturday during King College’s 12th annual Coats for Kids giveaway. The clothing had been donated in the weeks before the event, said organizer Julie Roberson, King College’s dean of student engagement. She said there were enough coats to help between 200 and 300 children get through the winter.

Duff was choosing jackets for four youngsters – her grandson and three others she looks after.

“It’s very worthwhile for any family” to come to the giveaway, she said. “Kids grow out [of their clothes] too fast, and if you have to spend $20 or $40 per coat, it’s just ridiculous.”

The kids had helped pick out their own coats, too, provided they passed Duff’s test – the zippers had to work and the coats had to be warm enough.

Her grandson, 7-year-old Xavier, got a red one, and 4-year-old Jasiah got a pink and purple coat.

Duff said she’s come to get coats before, and she gives back to the system by donating last year’s coats for other children to wear.

The Gimes family was at the event for the first time, and grandmother Joanne Gimes said their participation was prompted by the fact that 7-year-old Tyler lost his coat at school the week before.

“He had a really nice coat and he lost it,” she said. “And grandma didn’t have the money to get him a new one.”

But Tyler picked out a new red one – his favorite color. His younger brother, Jonathon, 5, also got a red coat. In addition to getting new coats, the boys got their faces painted and played games with members of King College’s Student Tennessee Education Association. But the coats were the reason they were there.

“Usually I have coats for them that someone gave me and I hold on to them for a few years until they fit,” Gimes said. “But we appreciate this – it’s a good thing and it helps out a lot of people, and keeps kids warm. Money is so tight for so many people.”

Money is also what prompted Staci Combs and her daughter, Angel Tate, 16, to look for new coats. Combs spent $400 on back-to-school clothes for Angel, she said, and Angel wasn’t allowed to wear them at school as per Tennessee High School’s dress code.

“I didn’t have [the] money to buy her more clothes,” she said. “It’s hard to stretch dollar for dollar especially with Christmas and everything.”

In 2009, 31 percent of children in Virginia were living in low-income families, and 47 percent of children lived in low-income home in Tennessee, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty, which is overseen by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Low-income is defined as living under 200 percent of the federal poverty level, according to the center’s website. The federal poverty level for a family of four with two children was $22,050 in 2010.

And the effect of the economy has been felt here in Bristol, contributing to a growing number of families seeking help this winter.

“As we see the economy doing what it’s been doing, this event has grown,” she said. “We’ve seen a great need.”

She said a line of parents hoping to keep their children warm during the winter had already formed outside the door an hour before the event started.

King College freshman Shantel McCallum volunteered Saturday morning, helping families pick out coats for their children.

“Most of them are just grateful they can get a coat,” she said of the people she’d helped. “It’s a good way for people who can’t afford coats to get them for free.”

Duff said that she for one was grateful.

“I really commend King College for putting on something like that,” Duff said. “Every city should have something like that.”

arobinson@bristolnews.com

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