DECA Students Distribute Winter Coats

Growing Pile of Winter Coats for Washington/Parkview Students

Christmas came early again this year for numerous Washington and Parkview Elementary school students in Lamar this past Tuesday, December 13. Since October, Lamar High School DECA students have had coat donation sites set up around town for distribution just prior to the holiday break.  The drop off sites were at Alco, the Lamar Community Building, Walmart and Safeway.  Any adult sized coats were taken to Mary and Martha Pantry for donations.

Young Student Tries on a Coat

Janell Martin, DECA Advisor, said all the coats are checked over and those in good shape are taken to Quality Cleaners where they’re dry cleaned at no charge. She said the business has been providing the free cleaning serving for a number of years.

DECA Students Collected over 100 Coats Since October

The coats are multi-colored, multi-styled and multi-sized. The older DECA students were helping the younger Washington Elementary students try on a coat to make sure it was a proper fit and a type of coat they’d like. Two other large boxes contained woolen hats, caps, gloves and headbands to make sure that all parts of the children would have some protection against the winter’s chill. Martin said over one hundred coats were donated again this year.

by Russ Baldwin