WOODSTOCK — Thousands of coats are on their way to locations across the state to go to veterans and families in need this holiday season.

Members of Arrow Exterminators, the Cherokee County Homeless Veterans Program, the Georgia Pest Control Association and other organizations gathered Thursday at the Arrow Exterminators National Training Center in southeast Cherokee near Woodstock to sort coats collected through their annual coat drive.There, they were loaded into vehicles for distribution across Georgia.

This year’s drive collected over 10,000 gently used coats, CCHVP Executive Director Jim Lindenmayer said.

Last year’s drive collected nearly 7,500. Since the coat drive started six years ago, over 25,000 coats have been collected, Lindenmayer said.

“This started with one kid needing

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