Carmel Clay schools will participate in the annual district-wide Hamilton County Kids Coats drive from Oct. 7 to Oct. 11. Organizers will accept coats until the end of the football game against Pike High School on Oct. 11. People can donate coats, hats, gloves or anything that can be used to stay warm during the winter.

At the end of the week, coat drive organizers will take donation boxes to the Carmel United Methodist Church (CUMC) where the coats are sorted on Nov. 1 and handed out on Nov. 2 at the CUMC. Michelle Carlton, coordinator for the Carmel Clay schools’ coat drive, said, “Next weekend we’ll be separating them on Sunday and then I get a list of students in Carmel Clay Schools and their families that need coats. I don’t get names or anything ;I just get a list from counselors or from their schools, and it’ll say I need a size girl’s four, purple or pink, and then what we’ll do is set them up for schools and take those bags, drop them off at the school we (collected) them from and then those families get those coats.”

Carlton said Hamilton County is in need of volunteers. “It’s seven hours but we need lots of help on the Friday of Nov. 1 when we set up and then Nov. 2 when we actually give the coats away,” Carlton said. “…Last year 403 families were served, 3,200 coats were donated, and all were given out.”

She said that the CHS Key Club helped in the past but that she is still trying to contact them. Students can volunteer through the Hamilton County Kids Coats website. Shriya Vinjimoor, Key Club member and sophomore, said she signed up to organize the coats.

“It seemed like a fun activity, it’s for club hours and it’s just a good cause,” Vinjimoor said.

One thing that surprised Carlton was the relatively fewest coats the drive receives from CHS.

“I’m just hoping to see a bigger turn out on Friday,” Carlton said.