Randi's Cleaners, 300 Jericho Turnpike in Mineola, will be the site of the kickoff of Coats for Kids, a campaign aimed at helping poor and needy children by providing them with clean coats to wear for the cold weather.

Not only does the program aim to help children stay warm, but those who participate in it do so because it is something that warms their hearts. "When the children come in the store with their parents to donate coats, I tell the children to drop the coats in the box to teach them a good lesson [about goodwill]. Some kids don't even know that there are people who don't have coats" said Arthur Epstein of Randi's Cleaners, of the participating stores in the campaign.

The kickoff event will be held on Monday, Sept. 25 at noon. According to Randi's Cleaners, several school groups, religious leaders, and political figures such as United States Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy and New York State Assemblywoman Maureen O'Connell will be in attendance.

The program, sponsored by the Neighborhood Cleaners Association-International (NCA-I), will run until December 31. Randi's Cleaners is one of the NCA-I's 2,000 members to participate in the campaign, which is beginning its 16th year.

Epstein, who is acting as the chairperson for the New York/Long Island area, has been involved with the program practically since its inception.

Participating stores will have a poster in their storefront window, designating them as a drop-off site for the coats. Each cleaner that participates in the program then takes the donated coats and cleans them free of charge. They are then taken to a distribution center where they are sorted by size and gender. After that, they are sent to a participating agency and distributed to families who need them.

However, Epstein said the coats collected at Randi's will first go to needy families in the area. "That's our goal in every area we're doing. People locally will get them first," he said.

Epstein said his store alone collected 1,500 coats and expects an even greater boom this year because of all the organizations that have become involved.

The Village of Mineola, through the help of Deputy Village Clerk Teri Ranfone, will be collecting coats for adults. Epstein said he will clean the coats and senior citizens will be able to pick out coats that they want.

Epstein said Randi's Cleaners alone expects to collect 3,000 coats this year. Various schools are helping by setting up boxes to collect coats for the drive as well as churches, PTAs and civic groups. "I didn't think it was going to be this big but we're going to collect a lot of coats and Mineola is going to be very proud," said Epstein.

Macy's is also a sponsor and will collect coats in all their New York metropolitan area stores. K-Mart has given a grant and some suppliers donate cleaning fluid and soaps to clean the coats with.

"There's no money we get," Epstein said. "You have to give something back to the community and this is what I want to give back."

Anyone wishing to donate a coat in decent condition can drop them off at Randi's Cleaners beginning Sept. 25. For more information about the coat drive, call Arthur Epstein at 746-0823.