Realtors and staff at Discover Border Country Realty are carrying on the branch’s annual Coats for Kids drive despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The campaign has provided winter coats for needy children across the Boundary for going on 24 Christmases, broker Sharon Marshall told The Gazette. Owner Flec Demmon has kept up the tradition since he bought the branch in January 2018, she added.
“It’s awful for a person to be cold. And no one should be cold at Christmas time,” Marshall told The Gazette.
“We want these coats to be given away, completely free of charge, to whomever needs them,” she explained. To that end, Marshall said the office has long partnered with the Grand Forks Auxiliary Thrift Store, whose “truckloads of coats” hugely add to the campaign’s stock every year.
This year’s give-away is scheduled over Friday and Saturday, Dec. 11-12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Boundary Child Care Resource and Referral centre at 162 72nd Ave. Any coats left over will be given away through a network spanning schools, churches and food banks across the Boundary, Marshall said.
People can drop off coats at Discover Border Country’s office at 347 Market Avenue until Tuesday, Dec. 8. All donated coats will be stored for three days in an empty room inside the office to ensure COVID-19 safety, according to Marshall.
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laurie.tritschler@grandforksgazette.ca
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