The women, who work at Norwalk Radiology, came up with the idea of holding a coat drive after a food drive last year.
"We started a quarterly newsletter, and were looking for content to put in it," Turnage said. "Last year, we had a food drive."
"All these ideas started coming up," Solano said. They considered several philanthropic projects before settling on a coat drive.
One Warm Coat provided them with posters for their drive after Solano contacted them. Three weeks ago, she contacted Frank Concepcion, director of operations at The Open Door Shelter in Norwalk.
"We are happy to have the coats for our clients," Concepcion said.
The Open Door Shelter provides shelter, food, clothing, case management services, treatment services, transitional planning for short- and long-term goals, subsidized housing, education, employment, and a path towards independence and success.
It provides over 95 beds for the homeless and operates the Manna House kitchen and pantry, serving meals three times a day and provides boxed and canned goods for the needy.
The coat drive yielded 40 coats, all donated by Norwalk Radiology employees, clients and even friends and family members.
"This is the first year we did this," Solano said. "We learned from it. We hope for more next year."
For more information about The Open Door Shelter in Norwalk, click here. To learn about One Warm Coat, click here. For information about Norwalk Radiology, click here.
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