Faith to move mountains: Eastern teen heads up massive winter coat drive

Michael Hartman, a 14-year-old Eastern Greene High School ninth grader, is surrounded by some of the more than 500 coats that were collected as part of faith challenge he helped to coordinate. The coats will got to area needy children. (Submitted photo)

A good portion of the donated coats of all sizes, colors and designs were delivered Monday.

Michael Hartman, the 14-year-old son of Marty and Beverly Hartman of Little Cincinnati, attended a Christ in Youth (CIY) Conference in mid-July at Johnson Bible College, located at Knoxville, Tenn.

The focus of the conference was to challenge the youngsters to grow through daily devotionals and not just sit back. They were challenged to "move" for God, which happened to be the theme of the conference, explained Michael's mother, Beverly Hartman.

"It may not be a physical mountain, but 500 coats is a mountain in itself," Beverly told the Greene County Daily World.

The local coat collection project actually originated at the end of the summer conference when all the attending students received a sealed envelope that contained a mission project.

The students where told that they did not have to open the envelope, but if they did, they needed to be committed to following through with what was written on the card.

Michael opened his envelope and on it was written "collect 500 coats and give them away to area schools and missions."

Upon returning to Greene County, Michael said he put the word out to a couple of churches and began collecting the coats.

The rest is history.

Michael, who said he is considering a future career in youth or music ministry, admits that the response was overwhelming.

"I never expected it to get this big. It just shows how amazing God is and how he works. I never thought I would get all of the basketball team to help pass out these coats. I expected it would take longer to get 500 coats," he said Tuesday evening.

When asked what life lessons are to be learned from this project, he replied, "Just how simple a ministry can be. It doesn't have to be anything huge, it can be just collecting coats to pass out to kids in need."

Beverly said she was very proud of the effort her son took to organize the collection by soliciting support from his own church, the Solsberry Christian Church and two other area congregations -- Greene County Chapel United Methodist Church and the Cincinnati Christian Church.

"When most teens would have given up or thought the challenge was impossible, Michael relied on his faith to help him 'move' his mountain," she said.

Michael began the coat collection in mid-August.

Michael did keep the faith and in less than four months, has collected 525 coats. He will still be collecting coats until about Nov. 15.

After collecting the coats -- most of which were gently used -- Michael's mother helped out with cleaning up the coats. Some she washed and others were professionally cleaned.

Michael also had to figure out what to do with the coats once they were ready for distribution.

With some help from his family, the Eastern freshman contacted the five school districts in the county as well as North Daviess Elementary School near Odon, the Family Life Center in Bloomfield and Roosevelt Mission in Linton.

Michael asked each if they would be willing to accept some of the coats as donations for their needy students.

"The response was amazing. Several of the schools were thrilled about getting coats and the missions were happy as well," Beverly stated.

The next challenge was how was Michael going to get the coats ready and delivered.

After giving a report of his progress to his Youth Leader, Stew Cobine, from Solsberry Christian Church, Michael was immediately offered the help of the Solsberry Christian Church Senior High Youth Group to pack the boxes for delivery.

For delivery of the coats, Michael, who is a member of the Eastern Greene boys basketball team, got some help and encouragement from varsity coach Andy Igel.

Igel said he believes it is important to instill a sense of service and giving, into the students he coaches.

He took an interest in Michael's service project and volunteered the services of the Eastern Greene boys basketball teams to deliver the coats to the community.

Michael, along with 25 of his teammates, delivered around 300 coats to the schools and organizations that responded and said they wanted some of the collected coats.

That group included: Linton-Stockton Elementary School, North Daviess Elementary School, Bloomfield Elementary School, and Eastern Greene elementary and junior-senior high schools, as well as Roosevelt Missions in Linton and Family Life Center in Bloomfield.

Coach Igel told the Greene County Daily World that he was happy the basketball team could do its part to make this project a success.

"It was a really big project. He (Michael) just kind of took this on in collaboration with his church and kind of took the lead and ran with it," Igel said. "We gave our guys (the basketball teams) a day off from conditioning (Monday) after school and delivered the coats.

"I'm very proud of him to take the leadership of this kind of program. I think that speaks volumes about his character and the character of some of the guys we have in our (basketball) program now."

Igel said building character goes beyond what his players do on the basketball floor.

"I think that is why we are in this business. We all want to win on Friday and Saturday nights during the winter months, but when you see kids take initiative and leadership like this, it really brings a smile to your face," Igel explained.

Igel acknowledged that Michael, who is expected to split time between the freshman and junior varsity teams this coming season, brings a lot of leadership to the basketball court.

Igel said the teams -- from the freshman team to the varsity squad -- enjoyed a pizza party as a treat from the Hartmans after the coats were delivered Monday evening.

"I think they had 18 large pizzas that went very quickly," the coach added with a laugh.

As for the other 200 plus remaining coats, they will be given away during Operation Outreach, a ministry involving several churches Solsberry Christian Church, Cincinnati Christian Church and Greene County Chapel to distribute food to families in Eastern Greene County during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter holidays.

Beverly Hartman admitted that her house had looked like a "garage sale had exploded" and noted, "it was an organized mess" in the days leading up to the coat distribution.

But the proud mother quickly added, "His faith should be a testimony to the community that one person can 'move' mountains."