RICHMOND, VA –
On a chilly, but somewhat sunny Dec. 10 afternoon, a team of folks from Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, led by Marita Beckles, branch chief, Foreign Military Sales and Civil Aviation Team, Air Force Customer Facing Division, Customer Operations Directorate, spent part of their morning inside an abandoned sporting goods store at Stony Point Mall in Richmond, Virginia. I’ll get to why they did this here in a second.
While the store no longer caters to the athletic community, during this time of year, it supports those making a difference in their communities. The Salvation Army Central Virginia set up its annual Christmas Center there in October. The aisles once lined with specialty athletic equipment now filled with donated toys and winter coats.
Now back to why Beckles and her team were there. She said they were there as part of the Richmond-based Puritan Cleaners Coats for Kids campaign. According to its website, Puritan collects the coats at their area locations, cleans and repairs them and then sends them to the Christmas Center. That’s where Beckles and her team come in. She said they volunteered to sort the thousands of coats donated this year.
“I thought it would be a great idea for the team to give to the community. It’s all about helping others and giving. We are grateful for the opportunity to be able to participate in this event, showing kindness, caring, knowing that families will be warm during the winter season,” she said.
Puritan began participating in the Coats for Kids campaign a little more than three decades ago. Last year, its efforts collected more than 20,000 coats.