VFW packs up clothing drive

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

The VFW is wrapping up its community clothing drive.

For the last several weeks, volunteers at the VFW have been collecting and distributing new and used clothing items to people in the community who need them.

“I think it went very well. It more than exceeded our expectations,” said VFW volunteer Patrick Lumley. “This is the first time most of us have ever done a clothing drive of this size.”

Lumley said that between 100 and 200 families in the community were served during the project, taking their pick of clothes for men and women of all ages.

“Everybody was able to come in and get as much free clothing as they wanted to,” said Lumley. “Overall I thought it was a very good community service project for the VFW.”

Now that the project is wrapping up, the remaining items will be distributed to other organizations that more regularly provide clothing to people in need.

“Anywhere in Northeast Iowa we feel we can make an impact with the leftover clothing,” said Lumley.

The VFW tries to do one big community service project a year. Lumley says they will begin planning for its next activity later this summer. He suggested it could offer a service, such as mowing and shoveling, to people in the community with mobility issues.

“Anything we can do to help out our disabled veterans or the elderly,” said Lumley. “That’s what we’re going to focus on.”