Coats of Friendship, an organization founded by senior Tristan Rankin, held their annual distribution event on Saturday, Nov. 15. This will be the last year Tristan Rankin will lead this organization as his younger brother, Emerson Rankin, will be taking over. Coats of Friendship is more than just donations. Coats of Friendship aims to make families partaking in the event feel comfortable and give a shopping experience, rather than just free donations.
Senior Tristan Rankin talks to volunteers at the beginning of the Coats of Friendship distribution event about how things are going to be run. Rankin reminisces about how he started this organization. “I saw a YouTube video, and in the video, a homeless boy is sitting on the streets for hours and hours, and it's below freezing outside, and it's New York City, so tons of people are walking by but nobody gives anything to the kid, let alone asks if he's ok,” says Rankin. “That's until another homeless man stops and gives this kid the coat off his own back. When I saw that, my family, being from New York and just seeing the need in our area, I knew something needed to be done, so I asked the question to anybody I could. Why did nobody help that kid? So I decided instead of asking the question over and over again to just go in and start it myself.”
Photograph by Josie Witsik
