02 Mar Project Bundle Up serves thousands; but isn’t able to provide coats for everyone in need

Melissa Fereday and the many volunteers she enlists work all year. They hold fundraising dinners. They write letters to secure donations. They strike up partnerships with dozens of businesses.

Their goal is to raise enough money to buy new coats for all needy children and senior citizens in the Pittsburgh area.

Despite all of their work and success, they’re not doing enough, Melissa said.

There were 500 people on the Project Bundle Up waiting list in October when the organization bought coats or took dozens of people shopping.

“That’s the most heart-wrenching part of it,” Melissa said. “It’s cold in the morning and you’ll be driving to work and you’ll see a child without a coat.”

Melissa and her volunteers, including all managers from the Covelli-owned Panera Bread restaurants in the Pittsburgh area, come together in October to take children shopping for new outerwear.

“We try to cut down that list as much as possible,” she said. “We are so appreciative of every dollar that we raise. I know that a donation is going right back out the door on someone’s back.”

Project Bundle Up is one of many outreach programs operated by the Salvation Army to try to help those in need in the Pittsburgh area. Panera Bread also makes cash donations to the effort.

Since 2011, Panera has donated about $40,000 to Project Bundle Up..

In the 29 years that Project Bundle Up has existed, more than 250,000 people have received new coats, boots, hats and mittens.

They’ve raised nearly $13 million. But pausing, Melissa said, “It’s never quite enough.”

Each year, Project Bundle Up’s goal is to serve 6,000 children and seniors.

In October 2014, they bought outerwear for 5,600 needy people. “And we still have 500 on that waiting list.”

“What this means is they’re either going to have to wait until next year or find another way to get a coat,” she said.

Melissa said several organizations conduct coat drives and are able to distribute used coats.

But she said that Project Bundle Up believes in providing new coats.

She explained the reasoning. “The coats that we buy don’t look like hand-me-downs or like every other coat that may have been part of a handout program. It gives a child a sense of ownership and pride. “

The children are often paired with adult mentors for their shopping trip.

In the case of the Panera Bread managers, a bus of children come to a Macy’s store and the children and their Panera mentor will have breakfast together before beginning their shopping trip.

“It’s an opportunity when a child participates in one of these shopping trips for that child to have an  adult mentor,” she said.

The value for seniors is equally impactful.

She relayed the story of one senior citizen who had not been able to buy a new coat for 42 years.

“She was so excited,” Melissa said. “It’s a whole experience and builds people’s self-esteem. As they are sitting at the bus stop they won’t look like they have someone else’s coat on.”

For more information about the program or to donate, please visit www.projectbundleup.org.