‘Step up and do it’: Windsor, Ont. man’s dislike of cold weather prompts coat collection campaign

1,000 coats will be given to those in need this week. CTV Windsor’s Michelle Maluske speaks to the man behind the plan and why he’s doing it.

Zaid Khan has collected 2,000 brand new coats since ‘Warm Hearts’ started six years ago. Warm Hearts is a campaign that collects coats and gives them to those in need.

“I actually ran into a lady outside the Rexall (drugstore) and she was in a wheelchair without any coat and it was right around Christmas time,” Khan explained.

“I couldn’t believe it that someone in our own backyard is in need of support.”

Khan said he had a spare scarf in his car which he gave to the woman and that spurred him to act.

“If you see any opportunity to do good step up and do it; don’t wait until the next day or think ‘I’ll do it later’. If you have that opportunity, go ahead and take it right away,” Khan said.

Fast forward six years, backed by the Windsor Islamic Association, Islamic Social Welfare Association, and Pure Hands Canada, Warm Hearts has collected and distributed 2,000 new coats and 50,000 winter items like hat, scarves, and gloves.

“There’s no relief from the cold,” Khan explained to CTV News.

“I just think about other people in those situations where maybe they don’t have shelter, or they don’t have shelter all the time, or they don’t have adequate clothing.”

Distribution events are happening across Windsor-Essex all this week to agencies like Hiatus House, Welcome Centre Shelter for Women, and the Downtown Mission.

This week, staff at the Centre Communautaire Francophone Windsor-Essex-Kent accepted dozens of new coats.

And not a moment too soon, according to executive director Yasmine Joheir.

“We had a family coming from Leamington yesterday for the non-perishable (food) items,” Joheir explained.

“They were just wearing, with the minus 15 (degrees C) that we had yesterday, just a hoodie. So, it (the donation) came right on time.”

The Centre supports more than 300 French-speaking newcomers to Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent every year.

They come to Windsor from all over the world, according to Joheir; Brazil, Lebanon, Africa to name a few.

The winter can be a shock to them, she explained.

“We do receive asylum seekers directly from the border or from the airport with only a T-shirt,” Joheir explains.