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Free Coat Fridays, Staying Warm Sundays launched

MARTINS FERRY — A new winter coat can be expensive, which is why Grace Presbyterian Church has started a new ministry to help those in need.

Free Coat Friday began earlier this month. Each Friday between about 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. coats are hung on a rack outside the church, located at Hanover and Fourth streets.

Anyone in need can stop and pick out a coat.

The free coats complement the church’s ongoing ministry of free scarves and hats that are occasionally hung on a clothesline outside. Many of those items are hand knitted by people in the community.

In a Facebook post, resident and parishioner Wendy Regis Suto talked about the coats.

“They will be put out on Friday mornings and will be out until gone or early afternoon. They are covered in plastic, so will be out most weather days other than crazy snow days,” she wrote.

Suto also noted the coats, many of which were donated by community members, would be located outside the church — not at the ReThreads shop across from the city building.

ReThreads is another ministry of the church that provides used clothing for free. It has not been open for months because of the pandemic.

The church plans to continue offering the coats through spring as long there are some to give away.

Suto said Monday the coat ministry has been expanded to include Sundays — Staying Warm Sundays.

“We had 30 coats out the other day and at the end we only had three left. Then we added another 30 yesterday,” she said.

Suto said she hopes to get the ReThreads shop reopened in the near future. She noted because of response from the community donating, coats from the ReThreads shop have not been needed yet.

“It’s a simple idea, but the response from the community has been great,” she said.

The Rev. William Webster, pastor of Grace Church, said there are still plenty of donated coats to give away.

“While the coats began as a Friday event, the need has grown and the coats are out nearly every day,” he said. “We don’t want people in our community to be cold. In this harsh winter we wanted to help people stay warm and be safe. This is a small, but tangible way in which we can assist our neighbors; bring a little warm with these coats, along with fresh hope, as we let our community know that someone cares about them.”

The coats are cleaned and labeled before being put on the rack.

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