Suggestions for Community Activities

Community needs might seem a bit daunting, but Knights of Columbus do what they can. The various activities can be broken down into various areas.

Knights participate in the parish Shelter Meal Ministry that serves the surrounding community with monthly visits to the SHARE pantry and S.O.M.E. (So Others Might Eat). Services days are the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month. They also participate in Warm Nights and other community service related activities.

One of our major areas of concern is that of senior citizens. Our chaplain offers a monthly Mass at Collington. Villa Rosa is also in our area. Might we visit old friends or offer a special activity like other councils? Councils have offered magic shows, musical program, “Senior” Dances, etc. Some councils donate dvd movies to their media libraries. We could do something special to celebrate Senior Citizen Day (August). Seniors have many gifts and we could sponsor a Senior Citizen Talent Show or host a special brunch or dinner. We could particiapte with the parish, helping the sick and elderly to the church for a Healing Mass that would include the anointing of the sick. The Knights also promote the Wheelchair Program. The Special Olympics is also always looking for volunteers. We could also sponsor flu shot injections or health seminars. The sick and elderly frequently need help with transport to appointments, like the doctor.

Day trips are regularly scheduled by some councils. We could travel to Hershey for the Christmas Show or make a pilgrimage to the Grotto in Emmitsburg, MD. We could sponsor a trip to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Many of our people would benefit from seminars on money management. Various councils adopt roads and are engaged in roadside clean-up. We participate in voter registration drives. The list goes on and on:

• Make delivers for Meals on Wheels.
• Distribute pro-life literature at church.
• Volunteer at a soup kitchen.
• Take a stand against pornography.
• Sponsor lectures on safety issues.
• Adopt a needy family.
• Organize a Columbus Day Event.
• Fight drug and alcohol abuse.
• Support Cancer Society “Relay for Life”.
• Recycle paper, bottles and aluminum.
• Provide tutors to overcome illiteracy.
• Recite the rosary to end abortion.
• Assist citizens with disabilities.
• Attend the March for Life.
• Support your local M.A.D.D. group.
• Collect baby supplies for pregnancy centers.
• Conduct educational seminars.
• Clean-up parks, beaches, neighborhoods.
• Tutor students with learning disabilities.
• Sponsor a Flag Day Celebration, etc.

One of the programs that Father Jenkins fervently supports is the ananual tootsie roll campaign for God’s special children (the mentally challenged).  We give out the tootsie rolls and good people make donations to this worthwhile cause.  Something like $300,000 was raised a year ago!

The Knights are patriots and we regularly honor the flag and the nation for which it stands.  Father Jenkins would like to offer a prayer service he composed for the Knights last year honoring our service men and women as well as veterans. 

The Knights also give awards out to the Catholic Teacher and the Citizen of the Year.  There are also awards honoring police, fire fighters, and E.M.T.s of the year.

The MD State Council has a long history supporting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Maryland.  The Society sponsors “Light the Night” walks in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Howard, Harford, Frederick and Calvert Counties. The Knights of Columbus assists at these walks and has become one of the major contributors to the Society. Our volunteers fill balloons with helium, distribute tee shirts, assist with registration, supply refreshments to the participants and act as guides along the routes.  

Father Jenkins noted that one council had planted trees for a park.  Given that we have to plant 450 trees as a condition for a building permit, we could use volunteers from the Knights here, too.