New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
UNH softball team donates 60 coats to Clothing Bank in Branford
BRANFORD — It’s not uncommon for BHcare Clothing Bank coordinator Joan McFarlane-Nwagboli to take the coat off her back and give it to someone who needs it. Literally.
Still, that kind of generosity cannot alone solve the shortage of winter coats the mainstay on Harrison Ave. is currently experiencing.
That’s why the donation of no fewer than 60 coats from the University of New Haven softball team on a recent Saturday was, as McFarlane-Nwagboli put it, “a boon to my spirit.”
Head coach Don Justus said he makes it a practice to encourage his studentathletes to give back to those less fortunate.
“Coming into winter, and especially during the holidays, we came up with the idea of a coat drive to help people stay warm,” he said. “Our players and coaching staff all jumped in and supported the effort,” he said. “They had family members, relatives and friends cleaning out their closets.”
The timing, he learned from McFarlane-Nwagboli, was perfect.
“There’s a whole population that’s really struggling,” she said.
That’s borne out by an October 2022 report in the CT Mirror showing that “people experiencing homelessness in Connecticut rose for the first time in nearly a decade, by about 13 percent, from 2021 to 2022.
But it’s not just those experiencing homelessness. “We also have people who are just trying to get by and feed their families and for whatever reason hit a rough patch, and need a little help,” McFarlaneNwagboli said.
For that, she’s grateful to organizations and groups like the UNH softball team.
“We can’t fix inflation. We can’t solve homelessness. But we can try to help those who come in,” she said. “There are a lot of wonderful people in this area quietly pitching in to do just that. And it never fails to take my breath away.”
The BHcare Clothing Bank is in the Patricia C. Andriole Volunteer Services Building, 30 Harrison Ave. Branford. Donations may be made Monday through Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Saturday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. For information, call 203-4832643. To learn more about BHcare, visit BHcare.org.