INDIANAPOLIS — If this week proved anything, it's that in Indiana, you need a coat. And while it may be a necessity, for many, the warmth of a coat is a luxury.
Nicole Glass and the members of Creating A New Society, a local grassroots organization, are working to make a difference with a coat drive beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday at the John Boner Center near East 10th Street and Rural Street.
The doors will stay open while supplies last and their plan is to give away free coats to 500 Indianapolis children, a free gesture they hope will protect those kids from winter's brutal cold.
"As you know, we live in Indianapolis and the weather can be below zero one day and it can be 55 the next. But everyone has to have a coat," Glass said. "I just walked a couple of feet to my car and my face almost froze off so I can't imagine children doing it or parents who aren't able to provide that."
Ralpheal Dorsey founded the organization and came up with the idea of a coat drive five years ago after seeing a problem first-hand.
"It was cold outside and I was going to a grocery store, on 10th and Linwood, the Kroger, and I saw a few young guys out there trying to get some cash. I saw it was cold outside and they didn't have any jackets on so I came up with the idea to go buy them some jackets," Dorsey said.
From there, the coat drive took off. Now the goal is to serve the community every year, a process that takes months of planning and is done with little-to-no money.
"We don't receive any grants or sponsorships, no big name companies are backing us or anything," Glass said. "That's just pretty much what we go off of, out of our own pocket. Just a small grassroots organization, just trying to give back. Just trying to help."
