Football Players Donate To Dental Center's Coat Drive

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL — Members of the Marian Catholic High School football team accounted for the bulk of the donations that came in as part of the annual coat drive at the Ashland Dental Center in Chicago Heights. The gently used coats will be sent to an area foster home, Blanca, a receptionist at the Ashland Dental Center who came up with the idea to hold the annual drive two winters ago, said. The drive helps a different organization every year.

"I noticed, first in my own closet, that we have coats that we don't use anymore and forget that there are people out there who could really use them," Blanca said.

Most of the coats are donated by patients at the Dental Center, but this year several Spartan football players accompanied Head Coach Erick Middleton in dropping off about 100 of the 150 or so coats that have been left there since the beginning of November.

"We are all so fortunate and often don’t really realize all that God has blessed of with," Middleton said. "When I heard Ashland Dental was doing this and brought the idea to my boys, the team jumped all over it."

The coat drive runs through this Saturday, Dec. 8. Anyone in the community who wants to drop off some of their no-longer-in-use coats can do so at the dental center located at 500 Ashland Ave. in Chicago Heights.

Photo: L to R (top row): Jah’Mar Daniel ’21 (South Holland), Justin Stallworth ’21 (Park Forest), Carlos Jones ’20 (Crete), Kendall Thomas ’21 (Richton Park), Joshua Coats ’20 (Chicago), Coach Erick Middleton ’98, Beckett Clasen ’20 (Chicago Heights), Bryce Jackson ’20 (Chicago Heights), Tajheem Lawson ’21 (University Park). L to R (bottom row): Anjay Rush ’22 (Glenwood), Elijah Barnes ’20 (Matteson), Ronald Thomas ’21 (Matteson) - Courtesy of Marian Catholic High School