Gloucester County effort running through January
There are many ways to get into the spirit of giving — some people volunteer their time, some donate money and toys. Michael Pallozzi, president of HFM Advisors, runs a coat drive.
In 2010, Pallozzi wanted to start a community project. He didn’t want to ask people for money, his small group of people wanted to do something simple, thus the coat drive was born.
“We started with a local elementary school and a library,” Pallozzi said. “We collected 300 to 400 coats the first year.”
Pallozzi added the coat drive grew exponentially over the years.
“Last year, we had more than 35 boxes in Gloucester County,” he said. “We received more than 3,000 coats.”
Over the last eight years, Pallozzi’s coat drive collected more than 15,000 coats.
There are 13 drop-off locations in the Washington Township area. Active Fitness on Fries Mill Road, Birches Elementary School, Bunker Hill Middle School, Chez Dance on Fries Mill Road, CLM Advisors on Egg Harbor Road, Healthtrax Fitness and Wellness on Hurffville-Crosskeys Road, Church of the Holy Family on Hurffville Road, Jefferson Health on Hurffville-Crosskeys Road, Keller Williams Realty 381 on Egg Harbor Road, Virtua Physical Therapy and Rehab on Hurffville-Cross Keys Road, Margaret E. Heggan Library on Delsea Drive, Washington Township Municipal Building on Egg Harbor Road and Washington Township Board of Education on East Holly Avenue.
With locations throughout Camden and Gloucester counties, Pallozzi says he would like to collect 3,000 coats again this year. “Anything more seems possible, but I’m happy if we do 3,000 again. That’d be great,” he said.
The coat drive is something important to Pallozzi, he remedied a need in the community — rectifying a problem in the place he calls home.
“There’s a great need in the community I’ve lived in for 40 years,” he said. “Every coat we collect gets used. I’m a family person, we want to take care of as many families as we can. It’s about helping one person, one family at a time.”
He believes this drive brings the community together to boot, noting there are people who make donating coats an annual tradition. He said people will go out and buy new coats.
“They’ll go to the mall or outlets and buy 20 kids coats. They take pride in the coats,” he said.
While buying new coats is nice, the coat drive accepts gently used coats as well. They’re in search of new or gently used coats for men, women and children.
Once the coats are collected, Pallozzi said an organization called “Hearts of South Jersey” handles the distribution. In past years, recipients were People for People, Unforgotten Haven, Kitchen of Hope and Volunteers of America, to name a few.
The coat drive will go until the end of January. Pallozzi said if any organizations want to be involved next year as a drop-off site they can contact Kristine Robinson at [email protected].
