Adelphi University Center Students Host Warm Drive

Adelphi University students studying the field of social work at their are hoping to bring a bit of warmth to Long Island families this winter. 

The students have launched the Warm Drive, collecting gently used winter coats and winter clothing for the homeless in local communities in connection with the nonprofit agency Pronto.

"We’ve done other drives,  but this is a unique one put together by the social work students here," said Jack Kruegar, site coordinator at the Adelphi Center in Hauppauge. 

Lynn Schulman, director of the Hauppauge Center Social Work program, said Adelphi requires its social work students to get out into the field, working with social agencies in addition to their course work in the classrooms. It was their hands-on experience that inspired this collection. 

"Many of the students were coming in increasing contact with homeless families in schools or hospitals. They wanted to do something to help these families out immediately," Shulman said. 

Students are asking residents to drop off winter coats or bags of used clothing to the center on Kennedy Drive throughout January. The clothing will be collected by Pronto and distributed to the needy across Suffolk County.

The Adelphi University Center has worked with Pronto in past to sponsor Thanksgiving turkey drives and school supply collections. 

"We have a great response so far, people are flooding in the door with bags of coats, blankets," Kruegar said.