Christmas 2026 coat campaign
60° N · Nunavut

Send warmth
north of 60°.

This Christmas, your school can put new winter coats on children, youth and adults in Nunavut's Inuit communities.

A campaign of the Knights of Columbus, Council 1388 in Toronto, delivered with North of 60, a project of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.

Sponsor a box Invite a speaker
Two smiling children in new winter coats in front of a Knights of Columbus banner
New coats from the Knights of Columbus program.
Every box is matched

$360 sends 24 coats.

Each box holds 12 new winter coats and costs $360. For every box you sponsor, the Knights of Columbus add a second one. That brings the cost to $15 a coat.

1 box sponsored
$360raised by your school
2boxes shipped, with the Knights' match
24new coats heading north

Where the road ends

No road leads to the Nunavut communities that North of 60 serves. Everything arrives by plane or by ship, and the farther north a community sits, the more its families pay for food, goods and housing.

Paid work is scarce. A hamlet may have one general store with two checkouts, a health centre, a school and an airstrip. Many Inuit families work every day to provide the basics, and a winter coat is one of them.

The opportunity to let them know we care, we're here for them.
From the North of 60 presentation, Society of Saint Vincent de Paul
Community members gather at an open sea container on delivery day
Delivery day: a North of 60 sea container is opened.

Coats for the whole community

The Knights' program began as Coats for Kids. This campaign goes further. Boxes are packed by size and by gender, so every age group in a community can be outfitted.

  • Children
  • Youth
  • Women
  • Men
  • Adult XL
A smiling young girl holds a Knights of Columbus thank-you card
A thank-you to the Knights of Columbus.

From your school to Nunavut

The sea routes to Nunavut close in September and reopen in May. So the coats are gathered at Christmas and sail in the spring.

  1. December

    Students, families and donors raise funds in the Christmas spirit. Every $360 sponsors a box of 12 coats.

  2. Winter

    The Knights of Columbus match every sponsored box. A school that wants to keep collecting after Christmas can.

  3. May

    The routes reopen. North of 60 loads the coats into sea containers and they travel north by ship.

A tug pulling two barges stacked with sea containers
Sea containers on their way north.

The communities

North of 60's Ontario teams support these Nunavut communities. The number beside each is its population.

  • Rankin Inlet 2,842
  • Baker Lake 2,160
  • Gjoa Haven 1,428
  • Naujaat 1,256
  • Taloyoak 1,110
  • Kugaaruk 950
  • Coral Harbour 910
  • Sanirajak 890
  • Whale Cove 485
  • Chesterfield Inlet 437
Young people carry boxes through a community hall
Young people help carry in a North of 60 delivery.

Two organizations, one delivery

Knights of Columbus

  • The Coats for Kids program has run since 2009 and has given out nearly 2 million new coats across Canada and the United States.
  • Ontario Knights delivered a record 20,736 coats last winter.
  • Toronto's Council 1388 began its Christmas campaign in 2024 with 360 coats for the Catholic Children's Aid Foundation, funded through Northmount School, De La Salle Oaklands and private donors.
  • The Order of Malta joined the campaign in 2025.

Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, North of 60

  • North of 60 began in 2010 and now reaches Arctic communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and northern Quebec.
  • Ontario's teams started in Nunavut in 2015 with two communities.
  • Parish groups in the south adopt a community and fill a sea container for it each year with food, household goods and clothing.
A man holds a bag of new winter coats beside stacked boxes of coats on a snowy doorstep
Montreal, December 13, 2025: coats arrive for the Brothers of Saint Gabriel.
Last Christmas

150 coats in Montreal

On December 13, 2025, the Montreal regional delegation of the Order of Malta delivered 150 coats of various sizes to the Brothers of Saint Gabriel in the Ahuntsic neighbourhood of Montreal. The Brothers distributed them to people in need during Advent, a season of preparation, solidarity and charity.

The donation was made possible by the financial involvement of the Canadian Association of the Order of Malta in the Knights of Columbus Coats for Kids program, and by the generosity and coordination of Mr. François Helou, under the leadership of the Montreal regional delegate, Mr. Charles Cloutier.

Take part

Sponsor a box

Run the campaign at your school this Advent, or sponsor boxes as a family or a business. Contact Knights of Columbus, Council 1388, in Toronto.

For questions: François Helou
francoishelou@me.com

Invite a speaker

Pegg Leroux leads North of 60 for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. She can present to your students about its work with Inuit communities.