News
Contact: Kallie Bienvenu
kbienvenu@cfmt.org
615-321-4939 ext.123
October 27, 2009
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and Vanderbilt Athletics Partner to Collect Coats
Coats and Caps for Counties Set for November 14NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Coats for the Counties, a program that collects and delivers winter apparel to needy children in rural counties surrounding Metropolitan Nashville, will occur prior to the Vanderbilt-Kentucky football game at Vanderbilt Stadium November 14, 2009.
This marks the third year that The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and Vanderbilt Athletics have teamed up for this worthy project. Fans attending the football game are encouraged to bring new and gently used winter coats to donate at convenient drop-off areas at each of Vanderbilt Stadium’s main gates. Children’s coats are most needed, but all sizes will be collected during Coats for the Counties.
Coats for the Counties was conceived by LaRawn Scaife Rhea, who along with her husband, Richard, realized from a friendship with a public school nurse, that children in rural areas were coming to school without coats, caps or gloves in cold weather and they had few, if any, resources to obtain help.
“The teachers and school nurses had been trying to buy these children coats but they simply couldn’t meet the needs without some help,” Scaife says. “Through this project we have been able to help meet the annual demand for coats in many of the counties surrounding Nashville that we know need assistance.”
Scaife is quick to credit the teamwork of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilt Athletics and her husband Richard, who donates his time and resources to store and ultimately help deliver the coats around the countryside.
“Our fans have really gotten behind this worthy project,” says Rod Williamson, Director of Vanderbilt Athletics External Relations. “It is very gratifying to see the hundreds of coats and caps being donated to these good kids. It is nice to have confidence that these donations are going directly to those that need them the most.”
Scaife notes with the tight economy and higher unemployment rates that the need this winter is probably even greater than in recent years.
Kickoff time for the Commodores-Wildcat football game on November 14 has not yet been established by network television. People wishing to donate a coat but unable to attend the game can drop it off at the McGugin Center, just across the street from Vanderbilt Stadium, the week of the game.
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