More than 30 minutes before the doors even opened, hundreds of Montgomery County residents were in line at Long Branch Community Recreation Center to get their free winter coat.
The basketball court was filled with 1,000 warm coats for men, women and children that had been donated by county residents. About 200 of those coats were purchased through a GoFundMe site that was started by Silver Spring Cares.
“It is pretty awesome the way the community has come through,” said Carmen Berrios, manager of communications for the Recreation Department. In a little more than one week, all these coats were collected, she said gazing around at the piles of coats.
After learning how the line of residents kept getting longer, she said, “The need is here for sure.”
A Rockville man, who asked his name not be used, couldn’t wait to get his hands on a warm jacket. “I love this county. I love Montgomery County,” he said.
He waited patiently as residents were brought in 20 at a time. Many others in line were with their families and many young children ran around played rock, paper scissors to pass the time
Participating in the coat drive were Montgomery County Police, Montgomery County Department of Recreation, Silver Spring Cares, Silver Spring Regional Services Center, CHEER and the County Executive Marc Elrich’s office.
Getting ready for free winter coat distribution at 4 p.m. at Long Branch Community Center @mymcmedia @MoCoDHHS pic.twitter.com/aikWPA2nsM
— suzanne pollak (@SuzannePollak) January 6, 2023
Strong demand this afternoon for the hundreds of new and like-new coats donated over the last week by our community. They’re being distributed now at the Long Branch Community Center in Silver Spring. Thank you to our community for stepping up. pic.twitter.com/maCzeDY0tX
— County Exec Marc Elrich (@MontCoExec) January 6, 2023
Update from @Longbranch_MD. We started with about 1,000 coats. The 200 new coats are gone. All of the small kid coats and virtually all of the youth and teen coats are gone. There’s probably 200 coats left and at least that many people in line. pic.twitter.com/HS7GtwyGIV
— Liz Brent (@LizBrentMd) January 6, 2023
