LEXINGTON, Ky. — People in Lexington are taking their coats to the cleaners for this season of giving to help those in need.
Chase Cleaners, a long-time laundry and cleaning company, is partnering with the Lexington Sheriff’s Office. They are revamping gently used coats back to life for the Sheriff’s Office’s annual Diana Ross winter care coat drive. The drive is eleven years strong.
“Think about it, what is the cost of probably about 11,000 coats because we get about a thousand coats a year,” Fayette County Sheriff Kathy Witt explained. “What is the cost of the cleaning business? This is truly not work. This is a labor of love.”
Witt says Ross was a mother, an advocate for domestic violence survivors, and someone who stayed in touch with her community’s needs.
It’s why the first owner of Chase Cleaners Gregg Robinson hopped on board several years ago and later connected Terra Ott, with Bluegrass Cleaners, to the opportunity.
“He had mentioned that he had been in partnership with the sheriff’s department for quite a few years, and, you know, we were blessed to be able to do what we do,” Ott explained.
Ott says all year long Chase and Bluegrass work together to take care of the city’s clothes and household items. The cleaners say calls for coat drop-offs have begun as early as October.
Ott says that they are both excited and prepared to refurbish coats back to new and get them on the backs of hundreds of folks in the community.
“Clean them and then the transportation of the clothes from this store to our main branch out on Richmond road. Yeah, it’s a process and it takes a team.” Ott said.
The Sheriff’s Office plans to connect with neighborhood and community leaders to help distribute coats after Dec. 15.