Consistent support part of Knights’ pro-life legacy
October 6, 2022 at 5:24 p.m.
Albert Deltufo, a Knight from St. Mary Parish, Barnegat, and chairman for Pregnancy Center Support for New Jersey state programs, explained, “Our goals are to make sure any pregnancy center that supports life gets what they need.”
In the Diocese of Trenton, Knights support The Open Door Pregnancy Center, Toms River, donating an ultrasound machine to them about 10 years ago, assuring hundreds of women might be dissuaded from abortion by seeing their child in the womb.
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Continuing its support of women after delivery, the “Homes for Mothers” program, chaired by James Illo, assist with funds for pregnancy centers such as Options for Women, Cherry Hill; numerous Several Sources Homes, and Good Counsel Homes-South Jersey, Riverside.
“We help centers which provide a home for pregnant women and their children for up to a year,” Illo said. “It is very important to show respect for life in the womb, but we also need to show help for mothers in terrible situations. … It’s a missing piece of the puzzle.”
Gary L. Seals, state director of life programs for the Knights, also chairs the Intellectual Disability Drive and the Mass for people with special needs. He explained, “The drive is used to raise monies for organizations like ARC [which aids developmentally disabled persons], and the Knights are platinum partners with the Special Olympics [headquartered in Lawrenceville.] We also partner with the Police Benevolent Association for the Polar Plunge.”
Seals, a communicant of St. Dorothea Parish, Eatontown, continued, “[St. Mary Church] Middletown has held a Mass for the intellectually disabled, and we are speaking with St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral [Freehold] for a Mass for others with physical disabilities. This way, they won’t feel alone and fall away from the Church.”
This past June, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly announced a new order-wide initiative to strengthen K of C assistance for pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes. Dubbed “ASAP,” or “Aid and Support After Pregnancy,” it builds upon the support Knights of Columbus councils continue to give to the more than 2,000 pregnancy resource centers in the United States.
In addition to placing ultrasound machines in pregnancy resource centers through the Ultrasound Initiative – nearly 1,600 since the program launched in 2009 – Knights nationwide served more than 1.7 million volunteer hours and gave over $18 million in funds and supplies to pregnancy centers and maternity homes from 2018 to 2021.
The new ASAP program will build on that support, local council by local council. For every $500 that a council donates to a qualified pregnancy resource center or maternity home — up to $2,000 in the 2022-23 fraternal year — the Supreme Council will add $100, a 20 percent increase.
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Albert Deltufo, a Knight from St. Mary Parish, Barnegat, and chairman for Pregnancy Center Support for New Jersey state programs, explained, “Our goals are to make sure any pregnancy center that supports life gets what they need.”
In the Diocese of Trenton, Knights support The Open Door Pregnancy Center, Toms River, donating an ultrasound machine to them about 10 years ago, assuring hundreds of women might be dissuaded from abortion by seeing their child in the womb.
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Continuing its support of women after delivery, the “Homes for Mothers” program, chaired by James Illo, assist with funds for pregnancy centers such as Options for Women, Cherry Hill; numerous Several Sources Homes, and Good Counsel Homes-South Jersey, Riverside.
“We help centers which provide a home for pregnant women and their children for up to a year,” Illo said. “It is very important to show respect for life in the womb, but we also need to show help for mothers in terrible situations. … It’s a missing piece of the puzzle.”
Gary L. Seals, state director of life programs for the Knights, also chairs the Intellectual Disability Drive and the Mass for people with special needs. He explained, “The drive is used to raise monies for organizations like ARC [which aids developmentally disabled persons], and the Knights are platinum partners with the Special Olympics [headquartered in Lawrenceville.] We also partner with the Police Benevolent Association for the Polar Plunge.”
Seals, a communicant of St. Dorothea Parish, Eatontown, continued, “[St. Mary Church] Middletown has held a Mass for the intellectually disabled, and we are speaking with St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral [Freehold] for a Mass for others with physical disabilities. This way, they won’t feel alone and fall away from the Church.”
This past June, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly announced a new order-wide initiative to strengthen K of C assistance for pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes. Dubbed “ASAP,” or “Aid and Support After Pregnancy,” it builds upon the support Knights of Columbus councils continue to give to the more than 2,000 pregnancy resource centers in the United States.
In addition to placing ultrasound machines in pregnancy resource centers through the Ultrasound Initiative – nearly 1,600 since the program launched in 2009 – Knights nationwide served more than 1.7 million volunteer hours and gave over $18 million in funds and supplies to pregnancy centers and maternity homes from 2018 to 2021.
The new ASAP program will build on that support, local council by local council. For every $500 that a council donates to a qualified pregnancy resource center or maternity home — up to $2,000 in the 2022-23 fraternal year — the Supreme Council will add $100, a 20 percent increase.