Klein & Cole
Coats — For Charity

Bethany Watkins’ church had just finished giving away its winter coats from last year when the Burlington Coat Factory called in late January. The outlet had 300 brand new coats to give away.

Watkins (pictured above) rifled through the coats on Wednesday as Immanuel Baptist Church prepared to sell the new stock to help two local charities.

The coat sale will take place Saturday in the church’s basement at 1324 Chapel St. from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The coats cost between $10 and $12. The sizes run small, from 0 to 4, suitable for children or petite women.

“I want every coat to go,” said Watkins, who volunteers and organizes charity events with Immanuel Baptist. ​“Down to the last one.”

Watkins said the church will use the proceeds to buy items for two New Haven charities that help the poor and homeless: Christian Community Action (CCA) and New Haven Home Recovery. She has asked the two charities to create a wish list of items.

“We’re humbled to be chosen,” said Albert May, CCA’s director of development, who visited the church Wednesday to look at the coats.

Immanuel Baptist members didn’t just pick the two charities — they voted. Watkins said the Rev. Samuel Ross Lee picked a wide variety of charities that he felt represented the church’s mission. Then the congregation decided on its preferences.

Watkins said the church needs to sell about 160 coats out of the 300 it started with. Some were already sold, earning about $600 so far. About 20 were given away to people in need.

Watkins and Sharyn Grant, who Watkins called ​“her partner in [charitable] crime,” said they hope to raise about $2,500 by the time the drive ends Saturday.

Many of the coats are designer brands like Calvin Klein or Kenneth Cole. The coats are brand new because they’re styles from last year. Burlington Coat Factory donates the coats that it doesn’t sell during the season.

“The styles are classic,” Grant said.

This is the fifth year Immanuel Baptist has held a coat-related charity event, but it’s the first time the church has received so many brand new coats. The church’s coat drives are coordinated through One Warm Coat, a national organization that helps coordinate coat drives.

May of CCA and Mary Grande, a development associate for New Haven Home Recovery, said they both plan to request items for the shelters in their organizations.

“The churches here in New Haven really understand our work,” Grandy said. ​“They have been such a big help.”