The need has never been greater and it’s never been easier to make a difference in your community.

Here is your opportunity to make sure that nobody goes without such a basic necessity as a coat this winter.

The Shelby County Treatment Center is collecting clean used coats and jackets as part of the One Warm Coat community service project.

Coats of all shapes and sizes are welcome. One Warm Coat is dedicated to distributing reusable coats, free of charge, directly to local children and adults.

The program is an easy way for you and your family to pass along coats and jackets that you no longer need.

The Shelby County Treatment Center has made donating a coat simple. Just bring your clean, gently used coats and jackets to the Shelby County Treatment Center at 750 U.S. 31 South in Alabaster from 5 a.m.-noon, Oct. 12-Nov.16.

The Shelby County Treatment Center will take care of the rest. All donated coats will be given to the Oak Mountain Mission for distribution to local people in need.

The mission of the Shelby County Treatment Center is to provide comprehensive services for persons affected by addiction through community awareness and quality and holistic clinical services in an efficient, safe and fiscally sound environment.

One Warm Coat is a national non-profit organization that supports coat drives.

It helps individuals, groups, companies and organizations across the country collect coats and deliver them to local agencies that distribute the coats free to people in need.

More than one million coats have been provided to those in need at no cost since its inception in 1992.