Manhattan Mini Storage and parent company Edison Properties are collecting new and lightly used coats for New York Cares annual coat drive to deliver warm outerwear to state residents. The self-storage operator will have collection boxes at all 17 of its Manhattan, N.Y., locations through Feb. 7. In addition, collection boxes will be set up at other Edison-owned properties in New York .

We recognize theres a crisis here, right in our own backyard, said Stacy Stuart, executive vice president of marketing and human resources for Edison Properties. We know that if you ask New Yorkers to pitch in and help out their fellow citizens, they will. So were doing what we can to raise awareness and get these coats out to the people who need them as soon as possible.

New York Cares works with nonprofit social-service agencies, churches, schools and shelters in New York City to distribute coats as quickly as theyre collected. The organization received 100,000 requests for coats this season and says it doesnt have nearly enough donations to meet the demand, according to an Edison Properties press release.

Family-owned Edison Properties also operates Edison ParkFast, a network of 40 garages and lots throughout Baltimore, New York City and Northeast New Jersey. Its other properties include workspace offices, executive offices and pre-built suites, The Hippodrome office building, and The Ludlow, a luxury residential high-rise on the Lower East Side.

New York Cares is the city's largest volunteer management organization, running volunteer programs for 1,300 nonprofits, city agencies and public schools. The organizations city-wide coat drive has been an annual event for 25 years.

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