Halifax, Toronto, and other Canadian cities have a tradition that repeats itself every time the first major cold spell of the year arrives: ordinary neighbors hang coats, scarves, and gloves on street trees so that any person experiencing homelessness can take them without having to ask anyone for them.
What makes the gesture special is not just the clothing, but the small signs that many garments have sewn onto them: “I am not lost, take me if you are cold”. That phrase is meant so that whoever needs the garment does not feel ashamed to take it. There are no forms, there are no intermediary organizations, there are no conditions.
The initiative grows spontaneously with each wave of extreme cold, and over the years it has become a quiet symbol of what a community can do when it decides that no one should freeze on the street while others have extra clothes.