10th Annual Winter Warmth Drive Needs Volunteers in Des Moines, West Des Moines

WEST DES MOINES, IA — Three area Chick-Fil-A restaurants will be the locations for residents to donate coats, hats, scarves, gloves, boots and other winter outerwear as part of the tenth annual Winter Warmth Drive in the community. The items will be collected in a "fill the truck" campaign outside the restaurants on Nov. 1 and 2.

Donors who drop off items will be given a coupon for a free menu item at Chick-Fil-A. Clothing will be collected from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the following Chick-Fil-A restaurants:

• 4040 Merle Hay Road in Des Moines
• 6555 Mills Civic Parkway inWest Des Moines
• 4502 University Ave. in West Des Moines

Volunteers are needed to help in two-hour shifts at the collection sites.

The Winter Warmth Drive was started by Tim Gaynor of Waukee and it has collected more than 44,000 items since 2008 for distribution to schools and community service agencies that work with the homeless and near homeless.

The Winter Warmth Drive is billed as Iowa's largest youth-run community service project. Each year, the sorting and distribution of clothing is spearheaded by students who learn through the effort about marketing, advertising, project management, public speaking and more. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from West Des Moines Patch, or click here to find your local Iowa Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

In addition to on-site volunteers on collection days, 40 adult volunteers and 80 high school- or college-age helpers are needed in four-hour volunteer shifts on Nov. 4 to help with sorting and counting the donated items at Valley Community Center, 4343 Fuller Road in West Des Moines. Sorting will take place from 7:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

More than 10,000 items are expected to be collected through the campaign this year and donated to more than 40 social service agencies that have made requests. Last year 46 community groups — including a number of Des Moines schools, the Johnston Partnership and Visiting Nurse Services — were recipients of the donated clothing.

Image via Pixabay