The values of charity and service have become synonymous with the Knights of Columbus, an organization that consistently and effectively spearheads campaigns in their parishes and local communities to help those in need.

Local Knights councils operating in the diocese have dedicated a good part of the last year to expanding their outreach in support of those serving in the U.S. military around the world and the people in foreign countries with whom they become connected.

Ongoing Effort
St. Ann Council, Knights of Columbus, Lawrenceville, regularly coordinates the shipment of care packages to military personnel stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and at sea. Members, many of them war veterans themselves, learned of their town’s Adopt-A-Platoon program three years ago and decided to make this endeavor one of their many service projects.

The Knights have timed the arrival of each shipment to coincide with the religious and secular holidays of Valentine’s Day, Easter, Independence Day, Veterans Day and Christmas. To date, about 155 packages of supplies have been sent to the troops.

Project co-chairman David McMahon described the military precision of each shipment. Periodically, the Knights print flyers and place notices in the church bulletin, prompting the parishioners to amass the items requested: toiletries; candy and snacks; notepaper and pens for letters home; puzzle books and magazines; and other personal items. The items are then sorted by volunteers, individual packages are boxed and labeled, and vehicles are loaded for the trip to the Yardville Post Office for priority mail shipment directly to APO mailboxes.

“The toughest part of the task is filling out all those six-page customs forms!” laughed McMahon.

Names and addresses of soldiers to receive the care packages are chosen from the Operation Military Pride website; two women soldiers, two chaplains and two chaplain assistants were chosen to receive the items from the most recent shipment, timed to arrive just before Veterans Day. On occasion, St. Ann parishioners will notify the council about friends or loved ones serving overseas that would appreciate the gifts, thus further personalizing the effort. 

Responses from the service men and women have been overwhelmingly positive and gracious. The council’s website posts notes of thanks and photos of soldiers sharing their bounty with their platoon.  Soldier Samantha wrote, “Being away from family and friends is hard at times, but receiving letters and packages from people like you makes being over here not that bad. It reminds us why we are here and what we are fighting for.”

A fellow serviceman, Steven, e-mailed, “Just wanted to thank you for the Rosary and information packet on the Knights,” and requested contact information to join a council in his native California.

A chaplain stationed in Afghanistan relayed his battalion’s gratitude, writing to the Knights, “The gifts were more than we ever imagined, and really added a touch of home for our soldiers.”

An Army chaplain expressed his platoon’s gratitude for the shipment saying, “We have been in Iraq for roughly four months and while many of us are pained by the separation from our loved ones, the support you all and others have provided has helped in a way to alleviate it and to boost morale.” 

McMahon humbly deflected praise toward his fellow Knights and parishioners. “The people of St. Ann are great; they’ll respond to anything we do,” the council warden declared, and encouraged other councils to contact them in St. Ann Parish for assistance in instituting the program. 

Supporting Education
Recognizing that education is the key to a child’s future, two Knights of Columbus councils 6,700 miles apart joined forces with the U.S. military to equip students with much needed school supplies.

Army Lt. Col. Michael Rounds, a member of St. Dorothea Council, Knights of Columbus, Eatontown, was stationed in Panjshir Province of Afghanistan and noticed the schoolchildren there lacked the basic tools their New Jersey counterparts took for granted. Educational supplies were in short supply in a country ravaged by war, so Lt. Col. Rounds and other Knights stationed in the small northeastern province reached out to their brothers in New Jersey for help.

The men of St. Dorothea council contacted other area Knights councils and set a two-nation plan in motion. Donations of school supplies were solicited from parishioners and the local Staples store, resulting in a mountain of notebooks, pens, markers, rulers and other supplies. The “Afghan School Assembly Session” was set into motion in St. Dorothea Gym last winter as volunteers, many of whom were St. Dorothea parishioners, sorted, stacked and packed the supplies. Members of the St. Dorothea council were aided by Knights councils from Freehold, the Bishop McFaul Assembly of Monmouth County; and the Knights of Columbus State Council.

The nearly half-ton of supplies were sorted into 1,500 individual school kits, then shipped to Lt. Col. Rounds in Afghanistan.  Upon arrival, the supplies were prepped for distribution. Lt. Col. Rounds and Knights of Columbus from the Roundtable at Bagram coordinated with the local Provincial Reconstruction Team, a group of U.S. military personnel working with the local Afghan government to repair that country’s infrastructure and rebuild education, health and business institutions.

The supplies were distributed to the schoolchildren at the Tambana School in Dara District of Panjshir Province. Lt. Col. Rounds, now Deputy Commandant at the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School at Fort Monmouth, shared photographs of the joyful children receiving the supplies from their far-away benefactors.