ABERDEEN, SOUTH DAKOTA  --  The cold and snow have arrived early but the folks in Aberdeen, South Dakota have coats and a church that cares to keep them warm.  Over 1,000 coats were donated from the people of Aberdeen, South Dakota for North Highland United Methodist’s (UMC) annual "Coats for Kids & Other Folks".

It takes many people from within North Highland UMC to make this happen.  Volunteers are need for lots of jobs: from picking up donations of coats from the various locations, storing the coats, youth volunteers moving them into the fellowship hall, and volunteers sorting by gender and size. 

Close to 500 coats of all sizes, as well as caps, scarves and mittens were given away on November 16, 2013.   This year each family also received a copy of the Common English Bible Christmas Edition and an invitation to Sunday worship and a special invitation to the Christmas Eve Service.

The coats that remained after the give away on November 16th were taken to Tree of Life Ministry in Mission, South Dakota. 
 
North Highland has become known as the place where a warm can be recieved without judgement.  "It is a wonderful reputation for a church to have developed," said Pastor Lou Whitmer.The church receives calls off and on from those who had heard of coat giveaway.  So the church has partnered with a local consignment store who will provide coats with pastoral referral.