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Eric Bunnell's People: Community Coat Drive wraps St. Thomas-Elgin in warmth

Donations of coats, hats, mitts, scarves and socks are being collected through Oct. 2 ahead of distribution days later this month

With Labour Day now gone by, everyone back to school and summer on the wane, it’s time to look ahead.

Fall is on the way and, like it or not, wintry weather soon will be as well.

Eric Bunnell's People: Community Coat Drive wraps St. Thomas-Elgin in warmth Back to video

The YWCA St. Thomas-Elgin this week launched its yearly Community Coat Drive to ensure no one in St. Thomas and Elgin County goes without warm winter gear for the coming cold.

The drive is collecting new and gently used winter clothing through Oct. 2 at the YW on Mary Street, as well as at participating businesses and organizations in St. Thomas. (The full list of partners is posted to the YW’s website, ywcaste.ca.)

“Every winter coat donated represents more than just warmth,” Jackie Anger, YW’s director of strategy and operations, is quoted.

“It can provide comfort, dignity and a sense of security for someone who may be facing difficult circumstances. We are incredibly grateful to the residents, businesses, volunteers and community partners who come together to make this initiative possible.”

The YW says the community last year demonstrated “incredible generosity”: 667 coats, along with hundreds of winter accessories, were distributed free of charge to 578 people.

This year, the YWCA hopes to collect 800 coats and winter items to meet what it says is a growing need in the community.

The collected items will be distributed through YWCA Community Coat Drive days on Oct. 23 and 24.

The drive is looking for winter coats for children, youth and adults, hats and toques, mittens and gloves, scarves, and new socks.

“The YWCA Community Coat Drive is a wonderful example of what can happen when our community comes together,” Jackie says.

And, really, isn’t it also the opportunity for those more fortunate to offer a hug?

 Simon Joynes Playwrights’ Festival

The end of summer means the end of another season of summer theatre at the Port Stanley Festival Theatre, our community’s only professional Equity company.

But it also means the arrival of of the theatre’s annual Simon Joynes Playwrights’ Festival of readings of new Canadian plays, fulfilling the theatre’s mandate to develop new Canadian works telling Canadian stories. This year is the festival’s 15th and, this year especially, with the very essence of the Canadian identity under attack from south of the border, what could be more appropriate?

The 2026 festival starts Thursday next week in Port and continues Friday and........

© Sarnia Observer