New York Cares is far from meeting its goal of providing coats to the neediest.
Only 30,000 coats have been donated to the nonprofit’s annual coat drive, which is seeking to fulfill 125,000 requests from its clients this year. Executive director Gary Bagley said the deficit may be caused by the warmer than usual temperatures the city has seen lately, but noted that poorer New Yorkers suffer regardless.
“The people who spend their nights on the streets or the kids who miss school on really cold days are depending on all of us for warmth this holiday season,” he said in a statement.
With three weeks left in the campaign, Bagley said anyone with a spare coat should drop it off at participating coat drive locations, such as police precincts, Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal and various private offices.
They can also donate money that will be used to buy and transport coats in increments of $20 by texting the word “COAT” to 41444.
