Foul-weather Friends
Rapid City
Why are those statues of former presidents wearing coats, hats, gloves, and scarves? Because warm-hearted Rapid City residents put them there for homeless people to take. The project began in 2015, when a local knitting group teamed up with a church. Now the coats appear with every first frost. “The items are taken as soon as they’re placed there,” says Darrell Shoemaker, a spokesperson for Rapid City. That’s all right—the residents are always ready to put out more.