By Robert Sullivan

robert.sullivan@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — When Herman Holmes moved to Salisbury and joined the local chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, he brought the idea to start a coat drive and donate the clothing both to Rowan Helping Ministries and families through the school system. This year, the annual Herman Holmes Coat Drive raised over 300 coats for people in need in Salisbury.

“Brother Holmes’ service, the legacy, he laid the foundation for us, so we’re just following suit behind what he has laid for us,” said Chapter Basileus Edward Brown. “He’s expressed 60 years in the fraternity, it’s a lifetime, so he has a lot of wisdom that he imparts to us. It was an honor to make sure that the coat drive was named after him and the brothers took that to heart to make sure that gets done every year.”

Holmes moved to Mooresville from New Jersey 10 years ago and joined the nearest chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, the Tau Alpha Chapter based out of Salisbury. While in New Jersey, Holmes said that he participated in coat drives, so when he was looking for a way to help the Salisbury chapter reach out into the community, he proposed adding the drive to its schedule.

“My question to them was ‘what are we doing in the community?’ We’re doing some things, but we need to get more exposure, so I said ‘how about doing a coat drive?’ We can do a coat drive, but this is October, so they said it’s too late to do it this year, we can do it next year. I said, ‘it’s never too late for people in the cold,’” said Holmes.

That first year, the fraternity raised approximately 60 coats, said Holmes. Since then, it has only grown. Holmes said that he is personally always on the lookout for coats that could be donated, and now that their partner organizations accept gently-used clothing, he and his wife spend time looking through consignment stores for coats in good condition.

Holmes said that his desire to serve comes from his upbringing.

“As I grew up, we were very poor, and we made sure that everybody had something. Nobody went hungry and nobody went cold. And, I’ve been trying to help in all my career as a mortgage banker. My motto was to help put low- and moderate-income people into decent housing. I’m proud to say that I’ve put quite a few people into homes,” said Holmes.

To honor the effort that Holmes put into leading the coat drive, which grew to over 300 coats this year when adding in partner sorority Zeta Phi Beta’s contributions, the other members of the Tau Alpha chapter decided to rename the event in honor of him.

“The coat drive was very important to him. Every year, he said ‘y’all going to do the coat drive, are y’all going to do the coat drive?’ Every year, we had another man whose name was (Augustus) Jones, he was always faithful in making sure that the coats got to a special place. We don’t want to forget him, he’s with the Lord now. These two brothers, they were adamant about us getting those coats (to those in need),” said Tau Alpha member John Ford.

After the coats are collected, Holmes said that they are distributed through different avenues. Some go to the Rowan Helping Ministries shelters, some are distributed through church congregations and some are distributed to students in Salisbury schools.

Brown and Ford both emphasized that the coat drive is only of the fraternity’s community activities these days, with other events including a blood drive and a series held in partnership with Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church, where fraternity members speak to local youth about their careers and what they do in the community. Ford is also one of the members who works with Hurley Elementary School by mentoring students and serving as a math tutor.

Anyone who wants to assist the Omega Psi Phi fraternity with the coat drive or wants information on other events can reach out to Lorenzo DeBose at LDebose74@gmail.com. Outside of his service with the fraternity, Debose works with the Salisbury Police Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods.

“There’s nothing more rewarding than giving a person a coat and seeing the appreciation on their face,” said Holmes.