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12/07/2016 07:30 AMA few years ago, longtime North Haven resident Deb Zavarella opened her closet and realized she had many coats hanging in it that she no longer wore. She knew she couldn’t be the only one in that situation and decided to organize a coat drive to get those unused coats out of people’s closets and into the hands of those in need.
“It came into my head that if I have coats I don’t need, how many other must have coats that they don’t use, either?” says Deb. “There’s a lot of people who can’t afford coats and there are so many people in need. I decided I’d give a coat drive a shot. I didn’t have anything to lose.”
Deb, who has worked at North Haven Stop & Shop for 22 years, approached her manager Tony Perrone about setting up a donation bin at the store. Perrone agreed and the box was set up in the store for three weeks.
The coat drive has now been happening for the past three years in conjunction with the Masonic Corinthian Lodge in North Haven. Deb had talked to her longtime friend Wendy Civitello about the idea and as lodge members, Civitello and her husband Jared were happy to get involved.
“Wendy and Jared were interested in getting the lodge involved with more community events,” says Deb. “We did it together and it made all the difference in the world.”
The number of coats collected has steadily increased since the coat drive started. They collected 150 coats in 2014 and 220 in 2015. This year’s collection totaled 324 coats. The coats are then donated to shelters, veterans, the Boys and Girls Club of New Haven, midnight runs, and those in need through the North Haven Community Services Department.
Deb noted that the increased success has a lot to do with the help she has received from various organizations and businesses in town. Carla Riccio and Kim Bracale from Community Services helped to make and distribute flyers; Perrone continued to support Deb’s efforts at Stop & Shop; Christine Medolo, a dispatcher at North Haven Police Department, placed a box at the department; and Betsy Keating set up a donation box at North Haven Health & Racquet Club. Other people instrumental to the coat drives’ success included Nancy Leddy and the Interact Club at North Haven High School led by Nancy Johnson and Ellie Mulligan.
“We collected coats from anybody who would donate and we just tried to get word across town as much as we could,” says Deb. “As the years go on, I’m finding more people who can help us out and distribute where they’re really needed. My goal is to make it a community event and have as many people involved as possible.”
In addition to hoping to get more people involved for future coat drives, Deb is also hoping to increase the number of children’s coats collected in the future.
Seeing the impact she was able to make by starting a coat drive, Deb was inspired to take another step toward helping those in the community. She had previously helped with a food drive around Thanksgiving, but this past June Deb hosted her first food drive for the North Haven Food Pantry. She held another on Nov. 19 and plans to continue throughout the year. Again, she credited Perrone for his support in her efforts and noted that Stop & Shop also donated cloth shopping bags and candy to the Community Services Department for the holiday food distribution.
“I plan on doing more in late January and February and as the food bank in North Haven needs it because people need food all year, not just during the holiday time,” says Deb. “Tony is all for it. It’s been absolutely awesome.”
Working at Stop & Shop, Deb realized she had the perfect venue to not only host a food drive, but to promote them as well. She shares the information with her customers while she works and sees many familiar faces when she is outside on the day of the food drives.
“People pass by and ask what we need or will pick up a few things and drop them in the basket on the way out,” says Deb. “It’s a lot of fun talking to people all day. North Haven is the most generous town. They really pull through.”
Deb noted that the last food drive collected three frozen turkeys, 17 carriages full of food, and cash donations. She thanked the Volunteer Fire Department, which not only helped to collect food that day, but brought a fire truck as well.
“They were absolutely incredible with my food drives,” says Deb. “They were right next to me collecting and parked a fire engine in front to get people’s attention.”
Deb has lived in North Haven since 1995 after growing up in Hamden. She and her husband Bobby have a daughter, Rachel, and a son-in-law Carl. Having lived in town for more than 20 years and working at Stop & Shop for even longer, Deb has formed many relationships over the years.
“Working with a lot of the people for those 22 years makes it feel like family and I’ve made a lot of friends in town just from working in the store,” says Deb, who enjoys cooking. “Rachel and Carl are the lights of my life and my husband, who built me a beautiful kitchen that I love to use, has been very supportive and helpful with all of the drives.”