P.E.I. schools making sure students have warm winter clothes
Free or inexpensive coats, hats, etc., being offered to students, families
Different Island schools, from elementary to post-secondary, are helping their students out with warm clothing for the winter.
The need for winter clothing is obvious, and there are many reasons students and their families can't afford to pay for brand-new cold weather gear.
Spring Park Elementary School is collecting winter clothes right now, as part of a new fundraiser for the school.
They are opening it up to everyone in the community, with most items selling for just a couple of dollars.
"We're trying to collect as much as we can from families," said Laura Sinclair Bevan, from Home and School.
"Coats, mitts, scarves, boots, hats, everything that could keep you warm in the winter time."
The money they raise will go to various home and school projects.
They plan to keep collecting winter clothing for the next couple of weeks, and hold the fundraising sale shortly after that.
At Holland College, it's the second year for a program that allows anyone on campus who needs one to drop by and pick up a winter coat.
Trisha Thompson of Student Services said they gave out 100 coats last winter.
"We noticed around campus whenever the snow started to fall and it got colder, that people were without winter coats," she explained.
"Lots of the students have children, or their wives or husbands, or even aunts or uncles, you know, it was kind of open to anybody who might need something."
Thompson said they expect to be gathering and giving out coats almost every day during the colder months, and it's something they think they'll have to do for years to come.