Just a few years ago, rapper Lupe Fiasco was no stranger to handing out winter coats to homeless people along Wacker Drive in Chicago.
“He would just drive around and say, ‘This guy looks like he needs a coat,'” recalled Ayesha Jaco, Lupe Fiasco Foundation director, “and then pull them out of the car.”
Now Fiasco – Friday’s A&O Fall Blowout headliner – will not have to rely on such impromptu methods: The foundation’s first annual winter coat drive, which began October in Chicago, is expanding to three locations in Evanston after partnering with Sleevecandy, the Evanston-based online T-shirt retailer.
Evanston drop-off sites include the McGaw YMCA, 1000 Grove St.; Vincent & Co. Hair Designs, 1626 Orrington Ave.; and Turin Bicycles, 1027 Davis St.
The entire coat drive is aiming to gather 1,000 gently used jackets to distribute to Chicago Public Schools students and Chicago homeless shelters, according to the Sleevecandy website.
Jaco said the working relationship sparked after she bumped into Sleevecandy founder Reed Hushka at a Music Blogger’s Association of America event in Chicago earlier this year. The two then “decided to follow up on just how we could work together” in extending the inaugural drive to Chicago’s nearest North Shore suburb, Jaco recalled.
She added Fiasco’s booking for A&O’s fall concert provided a unique opportunity to start promoting the drive’s Evanston expansion. Before Fiasco’s set, his cousin and foundation intern Jeremy Hearn took the stage to urge show attendees to contribute their used coats to the venue’s on-site donation box.
“For us, it was like, OK, since we’re going to be here, let’s get the word out for Northwestern students and members of the community,” Jaco said.
Elsa Stahura, A&O co-chair of promotions and public relations, agreed the Blowout announcement was an effective outreach effort.
“Especially at a university like Northwestern, students would be more likely to have extra coats to donate,” the SESP senior said.
Hushka said he hopes to eventually bring donation boxes to the NU campus but is waiting until a student group’s concurrent coat drive finishes mid-November to pursue those plans.
Nonetheless, he described Friday’s donation box at Welsh-Ryan Arena as “more of an advertisement than actually getting people to bring coats to the concert.” He estimated more than 800 flyers were passed out to Blowout attendees.
Plus, the foundation partnership furthers Sleevecandy’s goals of community impact, Hushka added. The Evanston-based company buys its inventory from the Salvation Army and donates 30 percent of every purchase to adult rehabilitation programs, according to its website.
“It’s kind of a little bit related to what we already do,” Hushka said, mentioning the Sleevecandy philosophy. “It’s kind of something we do around the holidays, and it adds to our mission.”
The foundation’s Evanston coat drive runs through Nov. 21. Coat donors are eligible for various local discounts and contest prizes, including a $150 gift certificate for Sleevecandy, a one-month pass for LA Fitness in downtown Evanston and two movie tickets for the Cinemark movie theater in downtown Evanston.
