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Coats for the Koots

Bring your ol' warm, clean and gently used coats to Valhalla Pure Outfitters as a donation to the Coats for the Koots coat drive.
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Coats in the Koots is collecting warm coats for the month of November thanks to Valhalla Pure Outfitter owner Sam Baio and employees who have organized the coat drive for the second year in a row.

If you’re cleaning out your coat closet this month, you can bring your warm coats to Valhalla Pure Outfitters as a donation to the Coats for the Koots, a coat drive for local people in need. Owner Sam Baio said after 17 years in business, he and Valhalla staff decided to start a local coat drive last year, which collected 180 coats using his “large customer base as a way to give back to the community.”

“I couldn’t find 180 coats on my own,” he said. The coats will go to various agencies in Nelson and he was told by local charities that was far more than they have every accomplished. The coats are given to clients in need rather than find their way into organization’s thrift stores.

Baio welcomes any donations of clean and gently used warm coats of any size, kid’s too, to be brought down to the store during the entire month of November. As an incentive for coat donations, donator’s names are entered into a draw to win a Marmot down jacket and a $25 discount on any new jacket purchased at their store.

Valhalla will be at the Community Connect Day at Central school on November 22. They were there last year and Baio said people were able to find proper fitting jackets from their racks. “It felt good to literally put jackets on people’s back,” said Baio. Other jackets collected also went to different avenues in Trail, Castlegar and Salmo last year.

“It just feels really good for all of us on staff,” said Baio.