Bend Fire & Rescue kicks off winter clothing drive

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Bend Fire & Rescue is kicking off its winter coat drive. We are collecting winter coats, gloves, scarves, and socks of all sizes to distribute to members of our community that may not have access to these items.  

Many members of our community are bracing for a long, cold winter without adequate clothing to keep them warm. Those who are facing this winter not having these basic yet vital items will be so grateful for these generous donations.

How can you donate? Outside every Bend Fire Station, we have blue bins ready to take your donated items. We ask all items donated to be washed and placed in a bag, such as a plastic or grocery bag. Bring your donated clothing to the nearest fire station and just drop them in the bin.  It is that simple! We will be collecting clothing until December 18th.

Thanks to our community, in years past our winter clothing drive was incredibly successful. We collected over two tons of donations in the previous four years and are very hopeful this year will be just as successful as years past. This is a hard year for so many families, but together we can make a difference.

We would like to thank our local community partners helping us distribute these items to our community. We would like to give a special shout out to Cascade Disposal for loaning us the collection bins.

So thank you for helping keep our community warm this winter.