Jersey Cares Hosts Annual Coat Drive; West Orange Drop-off Location at Whole Foods

West Orange residents can make a difference this holiday season by donating a coat to the Jersey Cares Coat Drive.

The annual drive, which is in its 18th year, plans to collect and distribute more than 60,000 “gently used” winter coats to men, women and children in need throughout New Jersey, a 50-percent increase over last year, according to the Jersey Cares website.

Residents can drop off their coats at Whole Foods Market, which is located at 265 Prospect Ave. Items can be dropped off Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. until Feb. 7, 2014. For more information, call 973-669-3196.

This year, The Jersey Cares Coat Drive is proud to partner with The 2014 NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, Wal-Mart and New York Cares to create The Super Community Coat Drive, the largest Coat Drive ever held in the Tri-state area -- and likely the largest Coat Drive in history, according to the JC website.

The website further states that companies, churches, fire departments, police stations, schools and other organizations will be setting up collections across the state to collect coats. Coats will be delivered by representatives of the collection site and taken to the nearest container site. Volunteers will then sort the donated coats and bag them for pick-up. Nonprofit organizations will then pick up their coats and distribute them to people in need.

Jersey Cares has collected, sorted and distributed more than 400,000 coats to New Jersey residents through their annual drive, according to the website.