CHAMPAIGN — Not many people knew Ricky Greer was technically homeless as a high school junior and senior.

Not out-on-the-streets homeless, but forced to live at times with relatives and friends, separated from his sister and mom. She had lost her job, and the family hit "a rough patch," with no home of their own.

But Joyce Smith, a dean at Centennial High School, knew. And one cold winter day she noticed that Ricky Greer was without a coat.

She called him to the office and said, "I have something for you." She handed him a coat, a blue all-weather jacket lined with fleece.

He asked where she got it, and Smith told him, "Ricky, there are some things in the world you just shouldn't worry about. Just receive the gift. Be happy."

Ten years later, Greer, 27, is now a college graduate and a teacher's aide at Centennial, and he still has the coat. And he's decided to return the favor.

His church is conducting a winter coat drive and will donate whatever is collected to the Champaign school district's Warm-a-Kid Drive, which runs through Nov. 21.

"It warmed my heart that somebody would take the time out and give me a coat," Greer said this week. "I just wanted to give back to our community."

The gesture touched the staff at the school district's Family Information Center, now in its 14th year of collecting coats, hats and gloves for children and teens.

Greer called the center a few weeks ago to see if it still sponsored the Warm-a-Kid Drive because he wanted to "give something back," Director Doretha Simmons said.

"I thought that was just so special," she said.

The Family Information Center has sponsored the coat drive since it opened in 1998 as part of Champaign's controlled-choice school assignment system.

Former Director Hattie Paulk, known as "Miss Hattie" to most, had started a similar drive the year before as a parent liaison at Columbia School. Simmons, then a second-grade teacher at Columbia, said she saw Paulk crying in her office one day and asked what was wrong.

"She told me she opened the doors that morning for two children who had walked to school in the cold with socks on their hands for gloves, and coats that were tattered and too small for them," Simmons said. "She asked all the Columbia teachers if they would donate a coat."

Every student that winter had a warm coat and gloves, "and an idea was born," Simmons said.

The Family Information Center expanded on the idea and since then has given out more than 7,000 coats, with financial help from Orange Krush and other organizations, choice specialist Michelle Brown said. Macy's, Champaign Surplus, Gordman's and other retailers have supplied coats at low cost to stretch donations, she said.

Last year, the center was able to provide 137 coats with just $200 in monetary donations, Simmons said.

"This year, more than ever, there are so many families that have come to our district that are below the poverty line," Simmons said. "Our kindergarten class is 100 more than we've ever had," and many of those families are in need, she said.

The focus of the drive is on the preschool and elementary grades, Brown said. If donations go far enough, it will expand to middle school and high school ages, she said.

The center will take new or used coats, but only "gently used and laundered," with no broken zippers or missing buttons. Big sizes are always needed for both boys and girls, from 8 to 12, she said. They can also use hats and gloves.

Cash is also needed. "We can make that money go far," Brown said.

Brown encouraged people to donate to any coat drive under way this fall.

"The more the merrier," she said. "We've got kids in great need."

The Church of the Apostolic Authority's drive started Oct. 1 and will run through the end of November, Greer said.

He graduated from Centennial in 2003, then attended Parkland College for two years with several scholarships — including a Martin Luther King Jr. scholarship — before earning a degree in history from Tuskegee University. This is his second year working at Centennial, and he hopes to earn a teaching certificate and become a full-time teacher.

Greer's mom now works at the University of Illinois.

They got through the rough times by praying and going to church and "relying on family and our strength," he said. "It was a tough period. We made it through. We're stronger now."