Coat Closet victim of changing times

Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Barb Ostrum’s granddaughter, Brittni Kinne, posed for the McCook Coat Closet and Winter Clothing Giveaway several years ago. There will be no coat closet this year. McCook veterinarian and community supporter Dr. Joe Magrath started the coat closet one or two days each year in a downtown building. Then, Alisha Potthoff and Barbara Marquardt gathered donated coats and clothing for a give-away at the Nebraska National Guard Armory for several years. Barb assumed coordination of the coat closet at least 25 years ago, she figures.
Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette

McCOOK, Neb. — The coordinator of McCook’s annual coat closet and winter clothing giveaway announced this morning she is discontinuing the event.

Barb Ostrum, who has coordinated the coat closet for about 25 years through her position as community services coordinator with Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska, says, “Things change. Times change. Donations and participation have both been down for the past several years. And the average age of my volunteers is, oh, I don’t know, 74?”

Ostrum said the coat closet’s main focus has always been on coats and winter clothing for young children, and she said young parents are turning more to online for-sale sites to sell their kids’ used and outgrown clothing and coats. “Just this morning, there are 15 ads selling bags of children’s clothes and coats on for-sale sites,” she said. She has said in the past that she does not begrudge young parents recouping some of their family’s clothing expenses, and using those funds to purchase the next size up.

There are also places in McCook to donate and to shop for children’s clothing, she said.

“I’m a big believer in non-duplication of services,” Barb says.

Barb says she has a plan to provide kids with needed clothing or coats as the need arises, working through the schools. “And Walmart has generously donated coats and gloves and mittens,” she said.

Barb encourages parents needing to shop for winter clothing to visit McCook Christian Church, the Family Resource Center and the two thrift stores, which provide children’s clothing at little or no cost.

The “Toy Box” Christmas toy giveaway, which is another project that Barb coordinates, will go on as scheduled in December.

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