From the co-leaders' email of August 13, 2026 and their Community Service Items list revised August 2026. Their emails are the official word.
Why the caravan collects
Every year this caravan gathers donations for northern communities facing real economic hardship and the plain difficulty of life that far north — the same communities that extend remarkable hospitality to our Airstream group every time we come through.
Past caravans have brought clothing, personal care items, and school supplies. These support a lot of different corners of well-being at once, and they build a relationship that has lasted across many years of this trip. The contributions are appreciated, and they let us make a real impact in the indigenous communities we visit.
What's needed
This is the co-leaders' own list, revised August 2026. Nothing has to be new — gently used is explicitly welcome.
Warm clothing
- Warm hats (toques), scarves, socks, slippers, winter boots
- Sweaters and vests
- Gently used men's, ladies' and kids' clothing — jackets, pants, tops
- Blankets and baby blankets
Babies and children
- Baby clothes, diapers, wipes
Personal hygiene
- Toothpaste, brushes, soap, shampoo and the like
- Small sample-size shampoos and toiletries
School supplies
- Pencils, pencil crayons, erasers
- Scribblers and notebooks
For the knitters
- Wool and knitting supplies — residents who knit make their own necessities from it
For cats and dogs
- Collars, leashes, tie-out cables
- Pet food — purchase this in Canada only. Don't try to bring it across the border.
Where to find it
Thrift stores are the co-leaders' first suggestion — at home before you leave, or anywhere along your route. There are plenty of them on the drive up toward Thompson, which helps if your storage is already spoken for.
Michael's for skeins of yarn. Costco or Walmart for hygiene products in quantity.
It is never too late to start collecting. If you're reading this a week out, a single stop on the way north still counts.
Where it goes
Thompson — Thursday, October 1
Everything is sorted in Thompson, as a group activity on the itinerary. What stays there goes to:
- The Inuit Youth Center
- The Women's Crisis Center
- Wapanohk Community School
- The shelter in Thompson
Churchill — October 2 onward
The rest is boxed and loaded onto the train. VIA Rail carries the boxes north at no charge to the caravan. In Churchill it goes to St. Paul's Anglican Church and the First Nations community.
Packing and hauling it
Storage in an Airstream is finite, and this is the one item on the packing list you can legitimately buy en route. A few things worth knowing:
- Soft goods compress — clothing can ride in bags tucked into odd spaces better than boxes can
- Hygiene products bought along the way save you hauling them from home
- Boxes for the train are made up in Thompson, so you don't need to pack donation-ready