CLARKSTOWN – Approximately 500 coats were collected this winter in the Coats for Kids program in Rockland County.

The program ran for a month from mid-November through mid-December. “In that time, not only coats, but sweaters and clothes were brought into participating dry cleaners, which cleaned the coats for free before being delivered to not-for-profit agencies around Rockland,” said Clarkstown Town Supervisor Alexander Gromack, who began the program 20 years ago when he was a member of the state Assembly.

“It all started with some volunteer firefighters some 20 years ago stating that they felt there was a need in Rockland County to recycle coats and it got bigger and bigger,” he said. “The good part of the program is the coats we collect in Rockland county stay in Rockland County.”

The garments were distributed from five locations – Community Action Program and Department of Social Services Clothing Depot, both in Haverstraw; People to People of Rockland in Nanuet; and Community Action Program and Martin Luther King Center, both in Spring Valley.