Coats ready for kids
BILL BULEY | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 14 years, 2 months AGO
<p>JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Sonja Zimmerman, right, owner of Sonja's Cleaner by Nature, discusses the logistics of moving hundreds of coats she cleaned for the upcoming Coats 4 Kids campaign with Dian Shelby, left, and Jennifer Keefe at a storage area Wednesday.</p>
Bill Buley covers the city of Coeur d'Alene for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has worked here since January 2020, after spending seven years on Kauai as editor-in-chief of The Garden Island newspaper. He enjoys running. | October 20, 2011 9:00 PM
HAYDEN -The call and question came to Sonja Zimmerman about 10 years ago.
Would you mind washing a few coats for kids? Well, more like several hundred, for free?
No problem.
"I was excited to do it. I felt like it was something I could do," said Zimmerman, owner of Sonja's Cleaner by Nature at the Prairie Shopping Center in Hayden. "There was a real need there. And all the coats go right to children."
Since, Zimmerman has continued sorting, washing and drying the coats that go to children through the Coats 4 Kids program. In the past decade, that has meant more than 5,000 coats have been tidied and spruced by Zimmerman and staff. This year, she estimated she cleaned about 700 coats of all sizes, infant to adult.
She prepared the last coat on Wednesday, wrapping up a three-week effort that saw her working evenings and weekends when the store was closed.
The coats were piled high in a vacant store space at the shopping center donated for the drive by Parkwood Business Properties.
"It's pretty busy for those few weeks, but it's not a hassle," she said. "I enjoy it."
French Cleaners also participates in the program.
Robin Blake, a program coordinator, said donations to Coats 4 Kids come from the community. Businesses and schools participate in the annual drive to provide warm jackets for children before winter weather sets in.
One youth group, she said, collected more than 100 coats. One man dropped off several new coats.
"It's very rewarding to know that many of the kids who couldn't afford coats will be kept warm in the winter," Blake said.
Distribution begins Monday at the Harding Center in Coeur d'Alene and area food banks. Parents are welcome to stop by and pick out the necessary number of coats.
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