METRO IMAGE Finlay Bridge will be covered in coats for New Year's Eve as part of an initiative to ensure people in need can stay warm this winter.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
Finlay Bridge will be covered in coats for New Year’s Eve as part of an initiative to ensure people in need can stay warm this winter.
Hatters are invited today to place gently-used jackets on the city hall side of the bridge. They can also drop them off at St. John’s Presbyterian Church downtown from 9-11:30 a.m.
Hangers will be provided and participants are welcome to place hats and mittens in the coats’ pockets.
The items will then be free for the taking for anyone in need on New Year’s Eve, and whatever remains on Jan. 1 will be taken and distributed around town.
Kym Porter, who’s spearheading the initiative alongside Helen Snortland, says Snortland got the idea to do this in the Hat from the “Warm for the Winter” project in Dublin, where people left coats for homeless people on the Ha’penny Bridge a few weeks ago.
Porter and Snortland posted on social media about doing it here and it gained more traction than they anticipated.
“It’s since snowballed quite a bit,” said Porter.
She says the timing of the project is no coincidence. While people are often out partying on New Year’s Eve, it’s important to think about the less fortunate who may not have the means to enjoy themselves while ringing in the new year.
“Let’s end the year and decade doing a kind deed,” Porter said. “It just seemed meaningful to me.”
