MOSES LAKE — With harsher weather and people staying in, many across the Basin are stepping up to help those in need.

None are aware of these concerns more than Eric Salgado, who took it upon himself to organize a coat drive and hand-deliver donations from his car.

Salgado is a trainer at SkillSource, where he helps his clients prepare for school, college and life in general. During the pandemic, he’s been helping folks file unemployment claims and work through other COVID-related obstacles. The coat drive idea, he said, came from one of his clients.

When a client told him he needed a jacket, Salgado decided to organize a coat drive himself.

“I grew up here,” Salgado said. “I’m a local here. I just wanted to do something for my community. I just wanted to step up.”

It started with a video advertising the event. Salgado and his friends would stand outside the library one November Saturday while people came by and dropped off coats. To his surprise, the video was passed around the county and received thousands of views.

Those views transformed to a decent turnout and a successful event, Salgado said.

“It went awesome,” Nestor Heredia, volunteer and longtime friend of Salgado’s, said. “We had a bunch of good vibes going. I brought my speaker. We were playing music. People would drive by and honk.”

In just three hours, Salgado was able to fill his car with more than 50 coats. After washing them, he gave one to his client. The rest he donated to his church, Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, which partnered with other churches for an ongoing distribution program to the Moses Lake homeless community.

The program started in March, where they put on a soup kitchen once a week, volunteers of the church said. But when the pandemic struck, they switched to delivering sack lunches six days a week.

Church volunteers drive with their own belongings in the front seat of their car, as the back is filled with clothing, sleeping bags and hygiene products, all from private donations. They even offer bill and rent relief to struggling families.

Lunch sacks are filled with water, fruits and vegetables, crackers, tuna, energy bars, toilet paper and anything else that will possibly fit. This includes a card with the church number, allowing those in need to call and ask for supplies to be delivered.

Volunteers drive around town, stopping by the post office, grocery stores and really wherever they see people stand.

All of this couldn’t be done without generous donors and the entire parish, volunteers said.

While Salgado is still receiving coats and hand-delivering them on an ongoing basis, COVID-19 restrictions have put a halt to some of his future ideas, including drives to collect toys, food and school supplies. Inspired by community encouragement, Salgado also plans on running for city council in April, he said.

Salgado is a first-generation college student as well as a single dad. Much of his motivation comes from trying to set an example for his son.

“I come from a family where we don’t do things like that. We kind of already have a future set up as far as agriculture work,” he said. “That’s my thing, just trying to break the cycle, and try to show my son there’s different opportunities.”

One of Salgado’s forefront issues is community safety, he said.

“The kids are always watching. They need someone positive to look up to. And I think that there’s not enough of us here to be doing that.”

Many of the church volunteers are inspired to help because they were once in a similar position and needed it themselves, they said. Being in the position to give back now is a powerful feeling.

The act itself is powerful too, Heredia said.

“(Imagine if) everybody in the community pitched in and started to do their own thing or just contributed, there’s a lot of people you could help out,” he said. “It’s great to see people come together for a great cause.”