Coats For Christmas 2021

Coats for Christmas of Hancock County originated from the vision of City Dry Cleaning owner, Paul Kramer. In 1987, Kramer developed and launched a service project to provide a warm coat to those in need regardless of financial circumstances. Paul conceived the idea of an organized collection of gently used coats, donating his company’s services to clean those coats and distribution of the freshly cleaned coats to those in need without financial qualification. In 1997, the Hancock Leadership Alumni Association assumed responsibility for organizing volunteers, the collection and distribution effort. 

As an organization City Uniforms & Linen, and City Apparel continues to drive this awesome program for our community and the region. The coats are now processed at our commercial laundry facility at 1800 Westfield Drive, which is also the corporate offices for all of our companies.

Distribution Location – East Branch YMCA:
Sat, December 11th times are: 9 am – 3 pm
Sun, December 12th time is: 1 pm – 3 pm

Collection Dates – Collection will begin on Monday November 29th and end noon Friday, December 3rd. Due to the time required to clean the coats and organize distribution, we cannot accept coats after December 3rd.

Collection Locations — Coats in good condition may be donated at various locations throughout Findlay including City Dry Cleanings old location/ City Apparels new location (116 E Main Cross) and Findlay City and Hancock County school buildings including: Arcadia, Arlington, Cory Rawson Schools, Heritage Christian, Liberty Benton Schools, McComb Schools, St. Michael’s, St. Wendelin, Vanlue, Van Buren Schools, Riverdale, Glenwood Middle School, and other area schools. In addition, there will be collection boxes located at the Findlay Village Mall, Hancock Federal Credit Union, both YMCA locations, church’s, and the Findlay Public Library. Businesses or organizations wishing to be a collection site can collect coats, mittens, & hats on their own and drop off their donations at 116 E Main Cross no later than December 3rd.

Donation Needs – New and gently used coats are accepted. All used coats will be cleaned by City Uniforms & Linen. Each year, there is great demand for children size coats to fit infants through junior high aged children. Warm coats are appreciated as many children walk to school each day. Work coats for men are generally in low supply and high demand. Larger sized coats are also appreciated for both genders.

Hats, Mittens and Blankets Collection – In addition to coats, new hats and mittens are needed. Collecting hats and mittens can be a fun service project for our youth, service organizations or clubs. Hats and mittens may be dropped off at The hats and mittens collection will be until Noon on Friday, December 8th. Our goal is to provide one new hat and one new pair of mittens/gloves with every coat.