Manhasset Students Gather Hundreds Of Coats For Homeless

MANHASSET, NY — Manhasset student have donated hundreds of coats for families in need ahead of the winter season.

Members of the Key Club, National Honor Society and Green Club at Manhasset Secondary School came together recently to collect more than 200 coats during a donation drive.

Students will bring the coats to New York City and put them in the hands of people experiencing homelessness as part of a giveaway. The giveaway is hosted by Sidewalk Samaritan, a nonprofit dedicated to giving items to those in need and inspiring others to do the same in their own communities.

As of January 2019, New York had an estimated 92,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given day, according to Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Nearly 16,000 of them were family households, 1,270 were veterans, about 3,000 were unaccompanied young adults (ages 18-24), and roughly 7,000 were people experiencing chronic homelessness.

Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2017-2018 school year showed that an estimated 153,209 public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. About 6,000 of them were unsheltered, 45,000 were in shelters, 3,200 were in hotels and 99,000 were doubled up.