Coats for Kids

A Higher Purpose
Provide warmth for deserving children during cold winter months. Councils across North America can purchase new winter coats for children in need at a discount and distribute them in their local communities.

Overview
Families struggling to make ends meet use their scarce resources to meet the most basic needs and cannot always afford the vital essential of a new winter coat. The goal of the Coats for Kids program is to ensure that no child in North America goes without a coat during the winter season. Through the dedication of councils across the United States and Canada, hundreds of thousands of new winter coats have been distributed to children since program inception.

Featured Program Requirements
Councils are required to distribute a specific number of coats. The requirements for each coat type are different and outlined in the table below. Councils must distribute the amount of coats shown in one of the lines of the table. Shipping cost are not included in these numbers. Report activity using the Coats for Kids Report Form (#10675).

Type of Coat	Coats in One Case	Cases Required to Satisfy Program	Total Coats (Coats Per Case * Cases Req.)
Youth Coat	12	6	72
Canadian Youth Coat	12	4	48
Teen Coat	12	4	48
Light Coat	24	4	96

Action Steps
Resources

Action Steps

Contact the state council to inquire about assisting in a Coats for Kids event or coordinating one in your community.
Using Knights Gear (or another outside vendor) order coats for the event. Coats can be bought on www.knightsgear.com in the United States and www.knightsgear.ca in Canada.
Prior to the Coats for Kids event, use the sample press release as a model to create and distribute a tailored release to local media.
Build public interest! Promote the Coats for Kids event in your parish and larger community through a variety of efforts:
- Prominently display promotional posters
- Bulletin announcements
- Pulpit announcements
- Posting on your council and parish website / social media pages
Invite the media to attend. (For publicity reasons, councils might also consider inviting local athletes, TV personnel, and the parish priest to the distribution, as well.)
On the day of the event, wear Knights of Columbus-branded apparel and have the council membership director set up a table with brochures and membership documents (including Prospect Cards #921A). Do not forget that this event is a recruiting opportunity!
Enlist a fellow Knight or community member to photograph the event.
Following the Coats for Kids event, update the community on the success of your program by amending the sample press release and distributing it to local media, along with energizing photographs from the event.
To gain credit for your program, complete the associated reporting forms and submit them to the Supreme Council Department of Fraternal Mission. Remember to retain copies for your council records.
- Immediately after your event is finished, complete the Coats for Kids Report Form (#10675) and Fraternal Programs Report Form (#10784).
- At the end of the fraternal year, complete your Columbian Award Application (#SP-7)

Resources

Coats for Kids Resources

All supplies and kits should be ordered by your council Grand Knight or Financial Secretary using the Supplies Online application available through Officers Online. Please note that Guide Sheets, Press Releases, etc. are available below as PDFs.