VISTA (KGTV) — As more rain is expected to move through North County during El Niño season, one faith-based organization is working to protect some of the community's most vulnerable residents with water-resistant "empowerment coats" that double as sleeping bags.
Michael Aplikowsky from Convicted 4 Christ Ministries is distributing 200 of the coats to people experiencing homelessness in North County. He is also giving out up to 700 tarps so people can stay dry during the wet weather.
Aplikowsky showed me how the coats work, demonstrating how they unroll and transform.
"Amazingly light. They open up, like this, simply unroll them. And what you have is a jacket. Okay. All right, my friends here are gonna get these. And then you open up the jacket and this thing gets better, okay?" Aplikowsky said.
He also explained how the tarps can help people without tents stay dry.
"You lay the top down on the ground, and that way at night, you got a dry ground, and then, of course, you put a top over you so that if it's raining and you don't have a tent, okay. You now have, you're now kept dry," Aplikowsky said.
For Daniel Hurtado, who recently received one of the coats, the timing means everything. He has been homeless on and off for the past nine years.
"I'd be freezing at night and honestly like it's been and I'm not ready for the rain that's why I'm like this empowerment code is gonna be so amazing," Hurtado said.
Hurtado said the coat has already made a difference for him as he carries his belongings.
"Yes, it literally, I read, man, I don't even know it's just like clutch because I carry a lot of stuff," Hurtado said.
Aplikowsky met Hurtado for the first time on Saturday.
Danny Trejo, who is also homeless, said the coat means the world to him.
"We're definitely blessed with these coats for sure," Trejo said.
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