Tonya Hopper began the Coats for Christ ministry after she said the Lord spoke to her one chilly fall day. “I was walking to my car after getting something to eat and felt a little cold. I remembered thinking I needed a coat,” she explains. “Then I felt like God said to me ‘Imagine the kids who don’t have a coat,’ and it really spoke to me.”

Tonya began calling local schools to see if there might be a few students in need of a new coat. The demand was almost immediate and more than a one-person-ministry could handle. After realizing she still needed 25 more coats for students in need, she called her friend Canda Rasberry in tears. “I just didn’t know what to do, so I called her, crying, saying I needed more coats,” says Tonya. Canda got right to work. “I called Tonya back that evening and said hey I got your coats,” Canda laughs.

From that point on the two have been dedicated each year to finding coats for kids as the weather begins to cool. Joined by Sherry Hodges and Haley Rasberry, the team of four is now looking to bless Brown County students with over 300 new coats this year before December. Their ministry, Coats for Christ, operates through the High Mesa Cowboy Church in Brownwood. Coats for Christ contacts schools in Brown County and asks teachers to make a list of students in need of a new coat. The ministry then works to raise money to purchase new coats or accepts donations of new coats from individuals and businesses. Variety of styles and colors as well as sizes are encouraged, the only stipulation is that the coats are new.

“We like to say God don’t give junk,” explains Tonya. “He gives His best. And we feel like He wants you to donate so He can bless you.”

The new coats each come with a written blessing and a Gideon Bible. “We put a bible in the pocket so the kids not only feel God’s love with the warmth of the new coat, they also receive God’s word,” says Canda.

Students who receive the coats truly do feel special. “One year the teachers at the alternative school told us the kids were asking them to turn down the heat so they could all wear their new coats!” laughs Canda.

Coats are supplied to students throughout Brown County, ranging from Head Start age to High School. Coats for Christ works to deliver the new coats before Thanksgiving Break. The ministry recommends a $25 donation per new coat, and accepts cash donations as well as new coats purchased directly by businesses and individuals in Brown County. If you are interested in donating to their ministry, contact Tonya Hopper: 325-647-3093, or Canda Rasberry: 325-642-3295, or you can donate to the High Mesa Cowboy Church at 1100 High Mesa Drive in Brownwood. Cash or check donations can be made out to the church, but please specify the coat ministry. Donations are tax deductible.