Care Initiatives Hospice - Sioux City see success with winter clothing drive

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) – A local clothing drive has started to drop off items for Woodbury County children to have during the winter.

Care Initiatives Hospice finished their first-ever winter clothing drive on Sunday and began to deliver those items to one of two locations around Siouxland.

“Some families can’t afford a coat, or maybe their child ruined a coat or grew out of it, and they were only budgeting for one coat. It was good to be able to have these later in the winter season, so they have the option for another coat,” said Megan Julifs, Care Initiatives Hospice.

Megan Juilfs, community representative for Care Initiatives Hospice, said the clothing drive received 114 winter coats for kids.

On Tuesday, the hospice and Charter Senior Living of Northpark Place delivered half of the coats to the Community Action Agency of Siouxland.

READ MORE: Digital Exclusive: Care Initiatives Hospice holds 2021 Winter Clothing Drive

“And especially to have them later on in the winter season is really helpful. As we all know, it’s Iowa, and it gets a little colder before it gets warmer. Being able to have these coats and work with these really great partners is really a blessing to us and a blessing to our low-income families,” said Kim Wilson, Community Action Agency of Siouxland.

Kim Wilson, chief development officer at Community Action Agency of Siouxland, said it’s important for kids to have coats because everyone deserves to have a warm coat for winter.

The non-profit organization also received half of the other winter items people in the community donated to the clothing drive.

“The coats will be given out to our multiple programs that help children. During this time, especially in January, when it gets later in the wintertime, our families really need that extra help, especially after the holidays with providing gifts for their children and things like that,” said Wilson.

Wilson mentions that more families need help from the non-profit due to the pandemic, and having these winter items will help keep their kids safe during the cold season. 

For Charter Senior Living, it brings a sense of belongingness in being able to help organizations like Community Action Agency. 

“The experience has been awesome because we have a great partnership in the community and really builds a lot of community relations. A great sense of feeling for what we do every day to help service the human heart in our community,” said Amy Nguyen, Charter Senior Living.

Juilfs mentions the hospice hopes to have the winter clothing drive become an annual event.

“You know, it felt great. There was a ton of outreach, a ton of support with this first coat drive that we’ve ever had. So we will definitely be doing that again in the future,” said Megan Julifs, Care Initiatives Hospice.

The Sioux City Community School District will receive the other half of the winter clothing donations on Wednesday, January 27.