Coats For Connecticut Collection Wraps Up with 11,000 Donations to Salvation Army
Best Cleaners wrapped up its 12th annual Coats For Connecticut campaign in December, having collected, cleaned and delivered over 11,000 donated coats to the Salvation Army and other local area shelters The family-owned dry cleaning and tailoring business with 13 locations in central Connecticut tackled the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic with a high-sense of urgency and a high degree of health and safety procedures in place. Since the official November 11 kickoff date, the general public, local businesses and community groups were encouraged to gather up gently-used coats and jackets for all ages and sizes and bring them to any Best Cleaners location for free cleaning and delivery. The total value of the coat donations and cleaning services is estimated to be more than $600,000. “Given the challenges of operating during the pandemic, our decision to move forward with this year’s campaign was not made lightly. But we knew the need would be greater than ever before and we knew we could count on our customers and campaign partners to make it happen,” stated Shawn McCann, Owner and President of Best Cleaners.
Best Cleaners and Salvation Army representatives take a break after this year’s final Coats For Connecticut delivery pushed the campaign donation total over the 11,000 mark.. (Seated from l-r) Shawn McCann and Kathryn Perrett, (Standing l-r) Laura Krueger, Gary Reynolds, Scott Franco, Roger Levesque, Laura Mullaly, Mike Mullaly, Kevin Mullaly, and Phil Groneault.
The success of the campaign can be attributed to the overwhelming support of the community at large and from Best’s campaign partners. Best cleaned and delivered the donated coats each week to a central drop location in Meriden. The Meriden Mall donated the use of a vacant storefront space and gave access to the Salvation Army so volunteers could safely sort the coats and prepare them for distribution to individuals and families in Bridgeport, Bristol, Hartford, Meriden, Middletown, New Britain, New Haven, New London and Waterbury. Two Men and A Truck donated the use of two storage containers for staging and storing the cleaned coats before each delivery; Eyewitness News WFSB-TV3 promoted the campaign through public service announcements and local news programming; and Young’s Printing/Fast Signs donated printing services for campaign posters, signage and other materials.“We are truly grateful for all those who stepped up and donated coats. Many thanks also go to the Salvation Army team for securing one central drop spot at the Meriden Mall for our weekly coat deliveries so we didn’t have to expose our staff and volunteers to multiple locations. Their efforts, along with WFSB-NEWS 3. Two Men and a Truck, Young’s Printing/Fast Signs, made for another successful year.”
Since the campaign’s inception, more than 128,000 coats have now been collected, cleaned and delivered. The real appeal of the program is that people can donate freely without having to incur the expense or time to have items cleaned and delivered. Ultimately, more coats get to more people, more quickly.
For more information on the COATS FOR CONNECTICT collection drive, go to www.bestcleaners.com or call 1-888-950-BEST.
