Bloomington-Normal families will be staying warmer this winter, thanks to a coat drive Monday at Providing Access to Help [PATH] in downtown Bloomington.
Subaru of Bloomington-Normal donated 120 coats to distribute to children and their families. The donations are the result of Subaru of America’s partnership with Operation Warm, a nonprofit that provides new coats and shoes to children in need.
“Every child deserves to be warm. And so an event like this puts that initiative kind of front and center to say we have a kind of a communal responsibility that we need to help each other,” said Adam Carter, CEO of PATH. “Mr. Rogers calls this a neighborhood expression of care. It’s that neighbors take care of each other, and everyone in this community is our neighbor and is worthy of our time, attention and love.”
Subaru also donated coats for PATH to distribute last year, with coats given over time to families that mentioned a need for them.
“This year, we were able to partner with some local early childhood agencies to be able to say we have this event coming up, we would love to provide this resource,” said Carter. “And so having it in person and having children here, along with having individuals from Subaru, this is the first time we've been able to do it like this.”
Krista Thompson came to get a new coat for her daughter.
“Obviously, everybody needs to stay warm, and it's freezing out there, and it's just a great event to have for Bloomington-Normal,” she said.
Event organizers also provided refreshments for guests, including cookies, coffee and hot chocolate.
“This is really a tremendous event, and the Subaru Loves to Help program. It's one of my favorite things about working for Subaru because they actually care about the community. They actually care about people,” said Mike Gargano, general manager at Subaru of Bloomington-Normal.
