Plum-based Knights of Columbus offers dozens of winter coats to local students

Plum’s local council of the Knights of Columbus has kept up its annual tradition of donating dozens of winter coats to local schools.

This year, local K of C Treasurer Len Manganello said the organization offered 48 coats to Plum and Riverview schools as well as Holy Family Catholic School, the parish where the local council is based.

The Knights’ annual “Coats for Kids” program has been ongoing for about a decade, he said.

A longtime Plum resident who now resides in Murrysville, Manganello said the Catholic fraternal organization collaborates with local school counselors to ensure the coats end up where they’re needed.

“It works out really well,” he said. “It helps out people who need them.”

Amy Palumbo, a counselor at Plum’s Pivik Elementary School, said she’s grateful for the Knights’ yearslong donations.

Typically, she reaches out to families in need and solicits teacher input to figure out where to send the coats.

Palumbo said she offers any leftover coats to recipients of Pivik’s annual “Giving Tree” charities around the holidays.

“Obviously it shows there’s a need for it, and we’re just thankful we can fill that need,” she said.

Distribution of the coats, Palumbo said, would begin taking place in early November.