12 Knights of Christmas — Help Is a Voicemail Away

Last Christmas, a member of Santa Maria Council 1443 in Haddon Twp., New Jersey, wrote an email. He hoped to communicate the Knights’ true spirit of charity and their willingness to help at a moment’s notice. It often starts when they listen to their voicemails.

Here are excerpts taken directly from that email:

At 6 p.m. last night (Christmas Eve), I received a call on my cell phone from a young mother from Camden. She had no food for Christmas and was down to 4 diapers for her 9-month-old baby. At 8 p.m., I delivered two bags of food, a turkey breast, children’s beverages, candy canes and diapers. When I asked her how she came to call me, she said “My girlfriend gave me your number. She said you guys help people.” The food came from our council’s Food for Families Program. Another of our members took a break from his family’s Christmas Eve Dinner to help me put the package together.

One of my responsibilities for our Council is taking the messages off of our answering machine. Last Thursday, December 20, a woman left us a message saying that she was in the hospital and that she had no money to buy Christmas gifts for her children and grandchildren. She said that she expected to be released before Christmas. On Saturday, December 22, I delivered a $150 gift card to her in the hospital. $100 was from our Council’s Charity Fund; $50 was a donation from my wife and me.

This is not “all about me”, I’m just one of about 1.8 million Knights in the United States.

My Knights of Columbus council, Santa Maria Council # 1443, of Haddon Twp., NJ also made a donation to pay for one wheelchair for the Knights Global Wheelchair Mission and paid $1,400 to buy and distribute 40 winter coats for the Knights Coats for Kids program.

This email showcases the Knights from Santa Maria Council. At 110 years old, it has a long history of service and charity that continues today. This Christmas, the council has undertaken a toy drive for local children in need.

They also are providing:

• $500 to a relative of a Knight who is widowed and caring for an adult son with intellectual disabilities.
• $300 and a Christmas food package to a woman caring for her ill husband and two young granddaughters whose mothers are both deceased and fathers are not involved.
• $200 to a fund to assist people to pay utility bills. Donations are matched 100% by the local electrical utility company.

Learning of requests through their voicemail messages continue to be a source for the council’s charitable work. This work includes:

• A donation made in February from the council’s Charity Raffle Fund to a woman in the hospital last Christmas.
• A member with an engineering background providing advice to a woman with water damage to her home.
• The council fulfilling multiple requests for food assistance left on their voicemail.

Ongoing charitable activities include:

• Food packages for families in need at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.
• Scholarships for four local students to attend Catholic High Schools.
• Donations to four seminarians of the Diocese of Camden, as part of the Knights of Columbus RSVP Program.
• Annual fundraisers for local Alzheimer’s and Multiple Sclerosis societies, raising thousands of dollars during the past year.
• Hosting an annual appreciation dinner for local religious sisters, and one for local law enforcement, for nearly 50 years.

This is just some of the amazing work done by Knights of Columbus. To read more about the great news of the Knights of Columbus, visit our News Hub.

Share your Knights of Columbus story with andrew.butler@kofc.org.