25News, Salvation Army partner to bring kids coats and holiday cheer

PEORIA ( 25News Now ) - Helping others one coat at a time is a motto the Salvation Army has used for the past 39 years to help kids keep warm throughout the winters.

In Peoria County alone, the Salvation Army finds around 19% of families live at or below the poverty level. 25news Week is sponsoring this annual event and many others to offer warm coats this winter in the Tri-County region.

Over the years, the Salvation Army has given around 57,000 coats to children. Sizes range from newborns to high schoolers, and the coats started to come in on Oct. 7. They're both accepting and distributing now through the end of January 2025. Families can pick up the coats at the Pekin or Peoria Salvation Army location.

"We are so blessed to that the Salvation Army live in a community that is so generous. So many people ask what can I do to help? If you want to support the Coats for Kids program. The toddler sizes for coats and the preteen. We always run out of those early, so we feel bad when we have to turn people away," said Tri-County Development Director Kathy Anderson.

So far the Salvation Army has collected around 550 coats with the goal of around 2,500. 25news week is one of the many drop-off locations across the Tri-County for coat drop-off.

More locations are shown in the photo below: