The season of giving is underway and both of the Rotary Clubs that call Highlands home got into the act on Friday by partnering with the Highlands Emergency Council.
Representatives from the Rotary Club of Highlands dropped off 25 turkeys for families in need ahead of Thanksgiving. The donations will be distributed by HEC staff to clients who may otherwise not get to experience a traditional holiday meal.
Following the turkey donation, members of the Mountaintop Rotary Club arrived at HEC to officially kick off the holiday toy drive the club administers each year. The toy drive is running alongside the club’s annual winter coat drive, which has been transformed into a more wide-spread effort for 2023.
“We have worked with our friends in the Rotary Club of Highlands, HEC, several churches and local nonprofits as well as several of our local businesses to expand the coat drive,” Mountaintop Rotary representative Duncan Greenlee said. “We have 11 locations this year where people can drop off their used coats. They will be cleaned and then given out to people who need them this winter.”
The coat drive began three years ago when a Rotarian bought 20 coats, out of their own pocket, and donated them to the HEC. The coats were gone almost immediately, and it gave rise to the winter coat drive as it’s known today. The drive started with seven drop-off locations, but has grown to 11 drop-off spots this year.
In 2022, the coat drive led to the donation and distribution of more than 1,200 winter coats to those in need.
“I work outside all year round and I see people all the time that don’t have a warm jacket to wear in the winter,” Greenlee said. “In Highlands our winters can get pretty brutal and the need for winter coats, for men, women, and children is greater now than it has ever been.”
The drop-off locations for the winter coat drive are:
• First Presbyterian Church
• Highlands United Methodist Church
• First Baptist Church
• Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church
• Episcopal Church of the Incarnation
• Community Bible Church
• First Bank
• Highlands Rec Center
• Highlands Performing Arts Center
• Don Leon’s Restaurant
• Dauntless Printing