A trio of Brooklyn Bar Association committees celebrated the holiday season with charity work at an event dubbed “Coat Drive and Cocktails,” a gathering held in support of New York Cares’ 34th annual coat drive.
Volunteers with the association’s diversity, LGBTQ+ and membership committees met at the Remsen Street office in Downtown Brooklyn on Dec. 20 to collect clean, gently used jackets and monetary donations.
Members from the Brooklyn Bar Association all pitched in to make the event successful. Natoya McGhie decorated the coat donation boxes while Pamela Walker, co-chair of BBA’s membership committee helped decorate and prepare for the party. BBA Vice President Anthony Vaughn provided guests with hand-crafted cocktails.
According to Ronit Abraham, a local realtor and sponsor of the event, her office was tasked with promoting the drive. Donations started to roll in early and by evening, the organizers had garnered a large collection of jackets for New York Cares.
Joy Thompson, chair of BBA’s diversity committee, organized a coinciding fundraiser with all proceeds going towards buying warm winter warm and a weeks worth of meals to New Yorkers in need.
“The best part is that we all came together and exceeded expectations,” Thompson said in a statement. “We raised over $2,000 in donations to New York Cares, and we collected nearly 40 coats for men, women and children, which will be distributed to locations in Brooklyn.”
According to Thompson, this was BBA’s first year taking part in the drive — which will likely be a continued tradition. Despite only having a month to plan the event, organizers were pleased with the final turnout.
“We see ourselves as members of the community as a whole and not just the legal community,” Thompson told Brooklyn Paper. “So community service is an important component of what we do.”
