Campaigns designed to keep the chill away for folks in need

Homebuilders and realtors throughout the region have launched collection drives to help those most in need stay warm in the cooler days ahead.

The Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association’s annual Coats for Kids campaign runs through to Dec. 1, with 57 member companies offering drop-off locations in 13 municipalities. The initiative, which has been in place since 1995, is in support of the Lower Mainland and Surrey Christmas bureaus.

Last year, donations of items — gently used and new coats, scarves, gloves, blankets and new toys — totalled more than 3,600.

An association release notes that coats for teens are always in high demand, and that hoodies are always a hit.

For more information on Coats for Kids, visit gvhba.org.

Meantime, the Realtors Care Blanket Drive is continuing through to Nov. 21. The program has helped more than 300,000 people in need since it began, also in 1995.

Donations of blankets, sleeping bags and warm winter clothing are distributed to partner charities from the same communities where the items were donated.

“The cold weather season is here earlier than normal, which only increases the need for donations,” said Jill Oudil, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, in a prepared release.

“We need the public’s support to help us meet this need again this year.”

More than 100 real estate offices in the Lower Mainland are participating. For more information, visit blanketdrive.ca.