By Greg Halbleib/WJBC News

Hundreds of youngsters will be a little warmer next winter thanks to the annual Coats for Kids drive conducted by the Normal Rotary Club.

The club reports collecting more than $19,000, enough to provide more than 1,100 coats and other winter wear.

Normal Rotary’s Coats for Kids committee members look for sales and bargains to stretch the donations, and also obtain discounts from business due to the volume of purchases, with an average price per coat of just under $13. The club says other businesses provide gift cards for the effort.

Project organizer Connie Gentry said a staggering one in four children in Unit 5 needs some form of assistance.

“We have had students stay home from school because they didn’t have winter coats to wear and they couldn’t stand out waiting for buses when they didn’t have warm clothing,” Gentry said.

Gentry added the Normal Rotary worked with Bloomington Sunrise Rotary to implement the Coats for Kids effort in District 87 schools. Normal Rotary also provided a $750 matching grant for a similar coats project at Ridgeview Elementary School.

Donations are still accepted at Normal Rotary Foundation at Box 333 in Normal.

This story was submitted to us by Greg Halblieb at WJBC