Pass Your Parka: Super Bowl Visitors Asked To Leave Coats Behind

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — With the 2018 Super Bowl in the rearview mirror, thousands of football fans are leaving Minnesota for warmer climates. But before they go, visitors are encouraged to leave their jackets behind for a good cause.

Several hotels in Minneapolis are participating in "Pass Your Parka," an effort to collect visitors' winter gear and donate it to people experiencing homelessness in the Twin Cities.

St. Stephen’s Human Services and House of Charity are overseeing the distribution of the cold weather gear.

“It’s called pass your parka but we’ll take anything,” Nancy Killilea, who started the campaign, told KARE 11. “Hats and mittens, socks, anything that’s going to keep somebody warm this winter.”

Killilea came up with #PassYourParka after she saw an interview with a man from Texas who bought expensive winter boots that he'll never wear again when he leaves Minnesota.

Here are the hotels with #PassYourParka boxes:

• Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, The Depot
• Radisson Blu Minneapolis Downtown
• W Minneapolis - The Foshay
• Le Méridien Chambers
• Minneapolis Marriott City Center
• Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
• Loews Minneapolis Hotel
• Millennium Minneapolis
• Hilton Minneapolis
• AC Hotel by Marriott Minneapolis Downtown
• Crowne Plaza Minneapolis Northstar Downtown
• Radisson RED

Photo credit: AP Photo/Eric Gay