By Jim Newell

Review Editor

Winter weather is upon us and one Lake Orion man wants to make sure that no one gets left out in the cold and is, instead, wrapped in a new winter coat.

Matt Pfeiffer, owner of Northern Wholesale Flooring in Orion Township, is running Operation Warm to collect new and clean, gently used hats, gloves, scarves, coats and boots to help keep people in the Orion community warm this winter.

“It is the holiday season and we are in a world that has a lot of people with need and we need your help. We’re trying to gather as many warm clothing items – coats, hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, boots – as we can get. Last year we had 3,000 items and they all went to people in our community, in north Oakland County,” Pfeiffer said.

Pfeiffer asks that people limit donations to the items listed above. Donations are dispersed to families in need throughout Northern Oakland County.

“Everybody has one piece of clothing in their closet that they don’t need anymore that could go to help somebody else.”

Operation Warm runs now through January and people can donate at Northern Wholesale Flooring, 118 Indianwood Rd. Business hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Friday; 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Thursday; and 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday. Online: nflooring.com.

“I always say until Christmas but we always run it past and into January. We usually do get stuff into January because people get new coats, hats for Christmas and then want to donate what they had and don’t need anymore.”

The Lake Orion Knights of Columbus Father Thomas R. Carey Council 4764 donated 24 coats for children and young adults on Nov. 24 to help out with Operation Warm.

“The Knights of Columbus are just one organization doing things in the community. We’re trying to do our part and we’re trying to do it in conjunction with everybody else that’s out there,” said Grand Knight Frank Kramarczyk. “Anything you can do to help out the community is great.

If people want to donate money, Pfeiffer takes those funds and goes shopping to fill the void of certain sizes or items that were not donated in the needed quantities.

“What I do with (monetary donations) is, as specific requests come in like specific sizes for boots for a kid or certain men’s or women’s coat sizes, I take that money and go buy those,” Pfeiffer said. “And I take the money that has been donated and go look for deals at Costco or different sales and buy as much as I can.”

Monetary donations can be mailed to or dropped off at Northern Wholesale Flooring & Floor Trader Outlet, 118 Indianwood Rd., Lake Orion, MI 48362. Questions: call 248-282-3992.