“Day after day nobody would show up,” she said during an interview at the Coat Closet, located in the old school building at St. Anthony’s Church in Fredonia. “I said to my husband, ‘The homeless are too far out, we have to get out to them.’ I prayed and a light bulb went off in my head.”

Rosario’s vision: Find the homeless and distribute coats to them.

She doesn’t drive, so her husband, Jose, enlisted in the effort. Jose drives her around Dunkirk and Fredonia, looking for homeless people to help. Rosario keeps notes on where they hang out. She looks in places such as parks and libraries.

Rosario estimates she has distributed Coat Closet clothes to about 100 people. With winter at hand, her focus right now is on cold weather items such as coats, boots and gloves.

Mary Rosario has placed this motivational message on a chalkboard at her Coat Closet, located in a former classroom at the old St. Anthony’s Church school building.

She is hoping and praying for 31 more pairs of boots. “They are very, very hard to get. People don’t want to give those up, they wear them out until the end.”

Donations trickle in, but Rosario has received two large shipments of clothes, including one enabled by the St. Vincent DePaul Society. “They approached me last Friday after Mass and said, ‘Wanna go to Walmart?’ I asked when and they said, ‘Right now.’ I said, ‘Sure!'”

Rosario starts piles of clothes for each individual she helps, showing her notes with lists of items for each person.

“They’re so thankful,” she said. “They say, ‘God bless you, thank God you’re doing this.'”

Similar to the people it serves, the Coat Closet’s future is unclear. Rosario was reminded in October, when she got approval from the Lord’s Vineyard of Catholic Churches for the closet, that St. Anthony’s Church is closing next year. The Coat Closet will have to move out of St. Anthony’s former school building in February.

“People plead with me for a place to sleep,” she said, sadly. “I say, ‘I have nowhere to put you. My church has nowhere. I’m temporary where I am right now. I’m in a building just until February. Then the heat and water go off.'”

Rosario commented, “It’s so sad. My heart just goes out to these people. A lot of them don’t want to be where they are.”

Rosario is wary of simply dropping off piles of clothes in public, so she tries to set up appointments with people at the Coat Closet. However, she said that is a challenge because homeless people often don’t have transportation.

“I say to them, ‘We’ll figure something out, I promise you. Just give me a little time.'”