Battling the Cold
Knights reflect on the progress of Coats for Kids in Poland and Ukraine as they prepare for the tough winter ahead
By Jarosław Herman
10/1/2024
District Deputy Marek Tyka, a member of Our Lady of Częstochowa Council 14004 in Radom, Poland, and other Knights unload a shipment of children’s coats last winter. (Photo by Sebastian Nycz)
In the winter of 2023-2024, Knights from about 150 councils in Poland and Ukraine delivered almost 8,000 coats to children, marking the second Coats for Kids campaign in Poland and the first in Ukraine.
As the war in Ukraine continues, the need remains enormous. This winter, due to the mass destruction of power plants by Russian forces, many people will face the cold months without heat. Experts say the season will be a harsh test of the country’s energy system.
Coats for Kids seems to be tailored to the needs of Ukraine.
“It touches the most vulnerable part of this conflict — the children,” said Supreme Warden Andrzej Anasiak, a past state deputy of Poland.
Ukrainian Knights are now gearing up for a second year of Coats for Kids with support from their brothers in Poland and, through the Ukraine Solidarity Fund, Knights around the world.
“I wish I could say that we are going to distribute fewer coats [this winter] due to fewer people in need, but this is not true. We will need even more coats because there are more widows and orphans in Ukraine,” said Youriy Maletskiy, past state deputy of Ukraine. “[The war] is bringing more and more devastation, more and more people are losing their homes, their jobs, and are unable to support their families.”
‘NOT JUST MATERIAL AID’
It is hard to imagine a clearer embodiment of Father Michael McGivney’s mission to care for widows and orphans than the Coats for Kids program in Ukraine. Last year, many of the distributions there took place in areas close to the front line or at parishes with a large number of displaced people. Others took place among Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
“Most of the children who received coats were displaced or had lost their parents as a result of the war,” explained Ukraine State Deputy Mykola Mostovyak.
This was the case at the first coat distribution in Ukraine, held by St. John Bosco Parish Council 16846 in Lviv.
“There was a family where the husband of a mother of five children died at the front,” recalled Maletskiy, who was among the Knights distributing coats. “We continue to keep in touch with this family and help them as much as we can.”
Students in Ternopil, Ukraine, express approval for the coats they received from St. Peter’s Council 17487 last December. The children attend a school run by the Franciscan Monastery of the Nativity of the Holy Mother of God in Ternopil; Franciscan Brother Tryfon (center) is a member of Council 17487.
Vitaliy Pysmennyi, who organized Coats for Kids last year in Ternopil, Ukraine, said that parents were grateful for the warm garments, which significantly relieved their financial burden in the winter months, and the children were excited to try on their new coats.
“Their eyes were shining with happiness,” recalled Pysmennyi, grand knight of St. Peter’s Council 17487 in Ternopil.
For children who have experienced trauma, a gift like a coat can have great significance, emphasized State Deputy Mostovyak.
“Often, these children feel marginalized or rejected,” he said. “This is not just material aid, but also a gesture that restores their sense of dignity and belonging. By investing in children who have survived the war, we are investing in the future.”
District Deputy Marek Tyka, a member of Our Lady of Częstochowa Council 14004 in Radom, Poland, had a similar experience when he and his council held a Coats for Kid event in Poland.
When Tyka handed a coat to a little boy named Szymon, “he started jumping for joy,” he said.
The grandmother of one of the children who received a coat from Council 14004 later called Tyka, saying that her daughter and her child had been abandoned by the father of the family, and the coat was a gesture of support that meant far more than its monetary value.
“Truly, anyone who hasn’t handed out those jackets won’t be able to understand or feel the essence of that giving,” Tyka said.
A NETWORK OF KNIGHTS
The logistics of organizing Coats for Kids in Ukraine and Poland differ but encourage unity among the Knights.
Polish councils receive support from the Ukraine Solidarity Fund, but Knights there also raise funds themselves in different ways — from collecting scrap metal to baking cakes.
The program in Ukraine, given the economic struggles caused by the war, depends on support from Poland and other Knights around the world. For example, the first coats given out in Ukraine were funded by St. Bonaventure Council 7432 in Calgary, Alberta, and came with prayer pledge cards from Knights and family members in Poland.
A member of St. John Bosco Parish Council 16846 helps a boy try on a coat at the first Coats for Kids event in Ukraine, held Nov. 19 at the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lviv. (Photo by Evgeniy Zinchenko)
Knights in Poland sometimes have to do a bit of legwork to identify Coats for Kids recipients. “In some local communities, there are no such needs on such a scale, but a few kilometers away these needs are there,” Supreme Warden Anasiak said. “You have to go there, talk, offer help.”
No such difficulty exists in Ukraine because the need is so great.
However, parish priests are invaluable in helping the Knights distribute coats where they will do the most good, said Vitaliy Pysmennyi, the grand knight in Ternopil: “They know the needs of their parishioners and directly know which families need special help.”
Many Polish councils direct their coat donations to Ukraine, sending several hundred jackets each. Knights in Poland often maintain contact with Ukrainian parishes, for example through Polish priests who now serve in Ukraine. These connections enable them to respond to a community’s specific needs.
“In many cases, the Knights already have pre-prepared coats by size and gender. We try to keep everything well organized here,” Anasiak said.
After nearly three years of international aid to Ukraine, the organization between Knights in Poland and Ukraine is highly efficient. In Ukraine, the aid system works just as smoothly.
“We addressed our parishes, local organizations and social services that provided contacts with those in need, with the families of the war victims,” said Maletskiy. “We made full use of the structure of the Knights of Columbus organization — that is, the state council through the district deputies contacted local councils, which distributed the coats directly.”
Last year’s large-scale action, despite the lack of previous experience with Coats for Kids, is a credit to the individual Knights, said Mostovyak.
“They found out what the needs were, and then organized distribution in their districts. This is all made possible by our Knights, through their discipline and devotion,” he said.
Supreme Warden Anasiak urged Knights to respond with the same devotion this year.
“There are areas in [Ukraine] where there are no jobs at all, so families have no income,” Anasiak said. “Another winter is approaching. The enemy does not sleep, he attacks all the time. Let’s carry out this invitation that Pope Francis has encouraged us to do. Let us not stop helping. Children in Ukraine are waiting for jackets in the coming winter. Vivat Jesus!”
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JAROSŁAW HERMAN writes from Kraków, Poland.