Dear WES Community:

The WES Immigration Justice Team invites you to the 2023 WES Refugee Coat Drive!  This year we are again partnering with Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA).  We request donations of all sizes of new or gently-used winter coats for local refugee children and adults. They are needed by the families who are currently being resettled permanently in the D.C. area by the Lutheran refugee resettlement agency. 

This yearly event to provide families with warm coats takes place in a Lutheran Social Services Resource Center room ringed with tables for displaying each size of garments. Contributors from local interfaith communities know that their gifts are well-used. The LSSNCA newsletter recorded the surprise and delight of even the youngest children, getting their very own first coats:

Please bring new or gently-used, clean jackets and coats and deposit them in the large cardboard box in the WES cloakroom area.  I would be happy to send you a receipt for tax deduction use if you will email to me listing your garments, sizes, and colors, along with the date you dropped them off.  Then I can email you back with your receipt.  If you have questions, please email me at okesterkat@earthlink.net. 

Here is the Lutherans’ Coat Drive flyer for reference.  We will pick up your donations each Sunday after platform until November 19, 2023.  We will take them to the Greenbelt, Md. Center ready for distribution.  Thanks so much for offering warmth to these refugee families.