Best Cleaners wrapped up its 13th annual Coats for Connecticut campaign in December, having collected, cleaned and delivered over 8,000 donated coats to The Salvation Army and other local area shelters.

The family-owned dry cleaning and tailoring business kicked off the community effort a week earlier than previous years and with an increased focus on getting as many donated coats as possible out to struggling families before the first freeze. The general public was urged to gather up coats that were in good condition but no longer worn and drop them off at any one of Best’s 14 locations from Nov. 4 through Nov. 12. All donated coats were cleaned for free by Best and delivered to centralized Salvation Army drop sites where volunteers sorted the coats for distribution directly to those in need throughout the state.

The total value of this year’s coat donations and cleaning services is estimated to be more than $345,000. Since the campaign’s inception in 2008, more than 137,000 coats have now been collected, cleaned and delivered.

Coats were collected and cleaned at each of Best’s locations in Berlin, Bristol, Canton, Farmington, Glastonbury, Middletown, North Haven, Old Lyme, Plainville, Rocky Hill, Simsbury, Windsor and the newly-opened West Hartford location on Sedgwick Road.

Two Men and A Truck donated the use of two storage containers for staging and storing the cleaned coats before each delivery.

More information can be found at bestcleaners.com or by calling 1-888-950-BEST.

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