By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Knights of Columbus (KoC) pride themselves on acting in accordance with four principles: charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism. But with new social distancing rules in place and the Knights unable to gather the way they did before, they are having to find new ways to perform their charitable works and remain united.
For the Needham branch, one of the main problems is revenue. Because of the virus, the Needham Knights of Columbus haven’t been able to hold an event since March 11. That means they lost out on their St. Patrick’s Day dinner, Lent dinners, and whatever else they were planning on doing in the spring. And while the Needham branch isn’t as dependent upon renting hall space as other branches, they did lose whatever revenue would have come from renting their space.
“Since early March, we haven’t been able to have any meetings, fundraisers or social events,” Grand Knight Bob Timmerman explained. “We had a St. Patrick's Day party scheduled for March 14, and on Wednesday the 11th, we were notified by the Massachusetts KoC State Deputy that we weren’t able to have any functions. That fundraiser usually brings in $2,500 that we give to the parish schools. We had another fundraiser scheduled - a music bingo night to benefit our scholarship fund - and we had to cancel that, as well.”
Another one of the things the Knights won’t be able to do this year is give out their annual scholarships. The group always gives out two: one thousand-dollar scholarships to a graduating high school senior boy and girl. With the logistics proving too difficult, next year, the group will give the scholarships to graduating seniors and to a pair of college students that have just finished their first year. The Knights also host a dinner for the winners of their free throw contest. That will not happen this year, either.
Despite these challenges, the Needham Knights have continued their charitable works. In the face of increased financial hardships and more stress being placed on institutions that help those in need, the Needham Knights launched their “Leave No Neighbor Behind” initiative to raise money for the Needham Food Pantry. While they couldn’t gather, and had to raise money mainly through email, they very quickly raised $1,600.
“Over the last couple of months, we’ve started a ‘Leave No Neighbor Behind’ fundraiser to benefit the Needham Community Council Food Pantry, and other area food pantries. We did it through our own membership list and some other media outlets, which has proved very successful. We haven’t distributed any money yet because we’re still collecting, but so far we have raised over $1,600 within a short time, primarily through the generous donations of our members.”
While the charity element of the group has needed to adapt to the new reality of life with COVID-19, the fraternity and unity elements of the organization have struggled, as well. Unable to meet in person, and with churches not holding Mass, the Knights have had to change the ways they recruit and initiate new members.
“There was an exemplification meeting last Thursday evening online,” Timmerman explained, “Where 2,000 new members throughout the order joined, and in Needham, we had three new members that went through the ceremony. But a lot of our recruiting comes from our churches, and being visible at St. Joseph’s and St. Bartholomew’s, so it is somewhat difficult. We are working on some other resources - a word-of-mouth kind of thing, trying to get members to step up and find men that may be interested in joining. We want to keep building our membership as best we can, and we hope through this 'Leave No Neighbor Behind' program, it will bring us some publicity and spur some interest from Catholic men in the community that may be interested in joining us.”
Knights of Columbus membership is open any Catholic man above age eighteen. And, while the full advantages of membership won’t be available until the social distancing era is over, if you’re looking to help people during this time of crisis, the Knights of Columbus would be a great way to do that.
“There’s something special when you’re doing good works. We’re all called to leave the world in a better place than we found it, and to evangelize our faith. Now is a good time for everybody to realize what is important in their lives. If there are men looking for an avenue to get involved in their church and the community, and to help out during this pandemic, we’re certainly a great avenue to get involved and help our neighbors, friends and families during these trying times.”
