Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A Buffalo police officer is looking to make a big difference in her community with a clothing drive.
Officer Anna Meegan says the birth of "Share the Warmth" started when she went to City Mission to drop off some of her own clothes.
"I kind of sat in my patrol car afterwards, and I don't know, something just didn't sit right with me. I was like, 'I just want to be able to do something. I want to get everybody together, make a difference.' I sat there, and I'm like, What can we do? 'Why don't we try to get together and do what I just did?' So I got back to the station house, I spoke with my chief," stated Meegan in an interview with WBEN.
It's been two months now since she started collecting the clothes. With how much the department has already received, Meegan says she plans on doing this again.
"We designated this barrel for the donations and you can't even see the barrel anymore. It's toppled with just bags and bags and bags worth of stuff. My heart was so warm, and I felt so grateful that everybody listened to what I had to say and thought it was a good idea to get together as a community. It was a huge success. Since we've originally reached out about doing the donation drive, I've had people reach out to me as well, like, 'oh, are you still doing it? Like, can I drop off stuff?' I am still collecting them for a short period of time still, and I'm hoping to do it annually. Hopefully this time next year, we can have triple the amount of stuff that I got this year," stated Meegan.
Meegan says winter coats are always a huge donation, but often times, people forget about the smaller things like hats, gloves, and heavy socks.
"That was something I aimed within the department, and reached out like, 'Okay, this is what I think we can focus a lot on,'" stated Meegan. "That is what I I focused on, but if people brought sweatshirts or sweatpants or anything like that, I obviously took whatever we could."