Bring New, Gently Used Coats to Village Laundry Center in Montclair

Upper Montclair’s Village Laundry Center has once again joined a countywide effort to collect coats for Northern New Jersey residents in need. 

A Livingston-based coat drive spearheaded by Jeff Friedman, a.k.a. “Livingston’s Coat Guy”, seeks donations of new or gently used men’s, women’s and children’s coats, jackets, gloves and hats.

Village Laundry Center proprietor Adam Slavitt will repeat his offer, presenting a coupon for $10 off any cleaning order for those who drop off coat donations at his business at 213 Bellevue Ave.

The third annual drive expands from Livingston and Montclair to the Caldwells for 2013-14, and the goal is to top last year’s effort of collecting 760 coats.

“It’s not rocket science or television production … it’s just coats, donated from your warm home and delivered to someone else’s cold world in just days,” Friedman said.

Distribution partners include the following:

• Freedom Industries, Inc. in South Orange Avenue and Newark, where Pastor Charlie Thompson started out delivering sandwiches and beverages to homeless men and women at Newark Penn Station from the back of his van.
• IFS Independence: A Family of Services, Inc. works with high-risk youth and families.
• OAR: Offenders Aid & Restoration of Essex County serves more than 1,000 formerly incarcerated adults each year with counseling to ex-prisoners and their families. The agency delivers a variety of intervention and support services for ex-offenders designed to help stop the cycle of crime by promoting individual responsibility.
• United Missionary Baptist Church in East Orange and Jersey City Seventh Day Adventist Church in Jersey City are dedicated to helping the poor in their communities and will receive and distribute coats as part of their mission work.

Contact Jeff Friedman at jftv1@verizon.net to arrange for drop-off or pick-up.