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As the weather gets colder, the Junior Service League of LaGrange is holding a winter coat drive.

Mickena Kendricks, JSL member and candidate for Queen of Behind the Mask, said the drive is a community project focused on helping provide children in the Troup County School System with a winter coat.

“The community always has something to give, but the one thing that we have seen a lack of is coats during the wintertime,” Kendricks said. “The provisional group of Junior Service League decided that it would be beneficial for us to do a coat drive for school-age students from pre-K up until 12th grade.”

Kendricks said the overall goal of the drive is to get as many children within Troup County a coat this winter.

The drive is also aimed to help relieve parents and school counselors of the stress and burden of trying to network with other outside companies or organizations to get a coat, she said.

Kendricks said the last day of the drive will be on Dec. 2 and will end with a “Grinch” movie night at Sweetland on Ice from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

“Participants can bring their coats that night and we’ll try to distribute them the last day of school before Christmas break on the 16th,” Kendricks said. “We’ll start distributing them to the schools prior but the counselors will hand them out to the students on the last day before Christmas break.”

Kendricks said the community impact of the drive will show that the LaGrange/Troup County area cares about each other enough to make sure everyone has the essentials needed for the colder months.

“You can always say, ‘Hey!’ to somebody but making sure they have the essentials — a coat —would show that the community does care about others besides themselves during the time of year,” Kendricks said. “It doesn’t have to be a heavy coat; it can be a fall coat. Some people don’t have a coat at all so, the benefit of the drive is to give them the leisure of having a coat period.”

She said whether it’s a heavy-duty coat, or a small rain jacket — having a coat is something people take for granted.

“We can get a jacket out of the closet and it’s just the norm but for someone else, it’s probably normal for them not to have one,” Kendricks said.

Those wanting to drop off coats before Friday can drop them off at the LaGrange – Troup County Chamber of Commerce, McKeen Realty, Mickena Kendricks Agency, Colony Bank or Your Pie.

The JSL also has an Amazon wishlist on the JSL website for those wanting to donate a coat. For more information, visit https://www.jsloflagrange.com/?fbclid=IwAR1ITc0FlMYmQPYl6WnjQUNR7iM7LtL2PkSnADyUcExawSuAXex23YsFcOY