Winter coat drives keep area kids warm this winter

There are coats everywhere at Superior and St. Regis schools, thanks to the efforts of local individuals who want to make sure area students stay warm this winter. Mineral Community Hospital maintenance worker, Cory Billet collected donations which resulted in three large bags being brought to the Superior Elementary School, and two sent to St. Regis School. The Superior National Honors Society also spearheaded a drive to collect coats, through January 30 as a community service project.

Billet has been collecting coats for years, along with snow pants, hats, gloves and boots. He started to do it when his kids were in school. They are now graduated, but the drive continues.

He said it started when his daughter, Abigale, was in second grade and took her extra winter clothes to class because she wanted her classmates to be able to go outside and play. In the elementary school, if the students don’t have adequate outdoor clothing, they have to stay indoors.

“It just took off from there,” Billet said. “This year, donors have been very generous, probably because of the cold weather.”

In addition to actually coats, he also gets monetary donations and buys items that are needed. However, he actually stopped taking donations because he felt they had enough to probably last two seasons.

Dawn Bauer, the secretary at the Superior Elementary School said that she has been handing the coats out like crazy this year.

Superior sophomore students, Jonna Rae Warnken, and Kayli Schoolcraft are members of the National Honors Society, and their group is also collecting coats. Their supervisor, Chris Quinlivan, said that it is a part of their community outreach.

“We saw kids outside in negative temperatures not properly dressed,” said Warnken, “and so we started the drive. Not everyone can afford coats and so if people have some that don’t fit anymore, they can donate them to the school.”