During the day commonly called “Black Friday,” when many Americans are hunting for discounted deals on retail purchases, about 50 Knights of Columbus from District councils gathered to give away coats to children.

The weekend for the feast of Christ the King was just starting, a time that not only marks the end of the liturgical year but also serves as a reminder from Jesus Christ for His followers that their eternal salvation depends on serving Him through taking care of those in need.

During the five-hour “Coats for Kids” event sponsored by the District of Columbia State Council of the Knights of Columbus, the Knights gave away nearly 3,000 coats on Nov. 24 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, located on a hill in the Anacostia section of Washington, D.C., with a spectacular view of the nation’s capital. Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a parish administered by the Josephites, is located in Ward 8, an area with one of the highest poverty densities in Washington. 

The Coats for Kids initiative, which provides winter coats for children who are 4 to 16 years old, is funded through the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council in New Haven, Connecticut. Since the Knights launched the Coats for Kids program in the District of Columbia in 2009, councils have purchased and distributed more than 500,000 new winter coats to children throughout North America.

“It will keep a lot of kids warm,” said Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who attended the event. Expressing appreciation for the support of the Knights for the Coats for Kids program, he jokingly added, “This isn’t my first rodeo,” and the cardinal explained that he supported the Knights of Columbus in Atlanta in launching the Coats for Kids project there when he served as archbishop for that archdiocese before being appointed to Washington in 2019. 

A fellow Chicagoan, Brendan Brown serves as the Coats for Kids director for the Knights of Columbus in Washington, D.C. He noted that the Knights are also giving two caseloads of coats to each individual Metropolitan Police Department precinct, so that patrol officers can give out coats to children they encounter who seem cold. 

Brown attends St. Mary’s of Piscataway Parish in Clinton, Maryland, and he belongs to the Knights of Columbus Council at St. Matthew’s Cathedral. The 42-year-old joined the Knights of Columbus when he was 18 years old at George Washington University and got very engaged through the GWU Knights council.

Anthony Diallo, a Knight from the Patrick J. Byrne Council, which covers four parishes, is a parishioner from St. Francis Xavier Church in Southeast Washington. He noted that Coats for Kids embodies three of the four Knights of Columbus core principles: Charity, Unity, and Fraternity. The fourth core principle is Patriotism. 

“They way I see my faith is that it’s meant to be lived,” said Terence Fitzgerald, a Knight of Columbus from the Potomac Council who is a member of St. Patrick’s Parish in Washington. A native of Cork, Ireland, Fitzgerald said that Catholicism for the laity isn’t just about prayers and attending Mass but also taking what they learn and believe in and practicing it in their daily lives, in the world. 

“It’s a good way to be with other Catholic men,” Fitzgerald said of being a Knight of Columbus. He decided, years ago, to join the Knights of Columbus at the invitation of his father-in-law, and their knighthood has brought them closer together.

Also volunteering at the Coats for Kids distribution was Ken Lesley, a convert to Catholicism who attends Mass at the chapel at Joint Base Anacostia, where he serves as the grand knight for the Knights of Columbus council. 

While many community-based membership organizations have suffered declines in their activities, with the COVID-19 pandemic only accelerating previous trends, Le Nguyen, the state deputy for the Knights of Columbus in Washington, D.C., said he sees a lot of vibrancy among Knights in this area, including among Vietnamese K of C councils. A member of the Vietnamese Knights’ council at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, in 1987, he became one of the first Vietnamese-Americans in the United States to become a Knight. He noted that now there are six Vietnamese-speaking Knights of Columbus councils in the Washington metropolitan area, including two in Maryland.