Some of the 335 coats purchased for a community effort led by Saint John's MLAs. (Image supplied by Government of New Brunswick)
An idea to support families in the riding of Saint John Harbour exceeded expectations by helping hundreds of children.
MLA Arlene Dunn said the idea was suggested by her campaign manager, Carol Kelly, who thought collecting coats was a good idea.
Dunn said at first they expected to help 150 kids.
“It surpassed all of our expectations to be perfectly honest with you. So, we ended up at the end of the day supplying 355 coats to 18 schools and one community centre,” Dunn said.
Dunn said Kelly led the charge in getting support from community organizations like PALS and the whole effort expanded to the other Saint John ridings because they had enough money to do more.
“It kind of expanded into the other ridings and I reached out to the other MLAs and said, ‘Look this is what we’ve done’ and they were really excited. We all agreed this is something we should be doing on a regular basis. This is really what it’s about to be an MLA, right?” Dunn said.
The effort also got some help with delivering the shiny, new coats.
“We were limited in terms of our budget. We really wanted to utilize the money we gained on purchasing the items. She reached out to them and they said, ‘It’s our pleasure to be able to help with this initiative.’ They provided the transportation and the driver,” Dunn said.
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