More than 800 people in need in the Roanoke Valley will have a coat to keep them warm this winter, thanks to the efforts of students from eight area high schools. Hidden Valley High School’s DECA club doubled the amount of coats it collected in 2015 for the Rescue Mission’s Happy Coats-giving collection and reign as champions of the school competition for the second straight year.
Hidden Valley’s grand total of 448 coats this year earns the DECA Club a pizza party, sponsored by Frank’s Pizza in Salem.
“The students at Hidden Valley really hit it out of the park this year with Happy Coats-giving,” says DECA Club sponsor, Nathan Hunt. “The DECA Club came up with lots of incentives to get students and teachers to donate, including raffles to win gift cards and other prizes. The DECA members were really dedicated to the collection and wanted to collect even more coats than last year.”
Cave Spring High School collected 142 coats to claim second place, with Patrick Henry coming in third with 56. William Fleming brought in 50; Salem 44; Glenvar 43; Northside 28; and Roanoke Catholic 27. Overall, the high schools collected an impressive 838 winter coats, beating the grand total of 711 in 2015!
Businesses, churches, and civic organizations have also held coat drives this fall, and many individuals have been dropping off coats at the Rescue Mission. So far, the Mission has collected over 4,000 coats and to date has given out 382 to people in need. Coats will be distributed at Thrift 460 through the end of December.
