This 2023 Advent Season the Knights of Columbus Monsignor James S. Conlan Council #5329 will be selling “Keep Christ in Christmas” lawn signs to raise money towards our 2023 Annual Christmas Meals for the Needy Program. Excess funds raised beyond that program will also go to our other charitable programs throughout the year. Lawn signs are $20 each. We have already sold out our first group of fifty signs and we have ordered an additional fifty more signs that we expect to quickly sell out of . Our hope is to have the new signs by this weekend for sale. We will be in the back of the Church of Infant Saviour in Pine Bush, NY this weekend as long as those signs come in as expected. We will be at all the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) masses at the church in the narthex ( front entrance area) after each mass each weekend until these signs sell out or until we reach Christmas weekend (which ever comes first). There was some backlogged orders from members and others in the Parish as well. We will commit signs to those back orders first and it will be first come, first serve on the remaining amount (~40 signs). Please remember that proceeds from this endeavor go towards all our charitable efforts including our Christmas Meal Programs and for $20, this is a really nice sign (2-sided plastic coated) that comes with the metal frame (see picture). In addition you can order via email to reserve a sign. Pickup must be at the church after a weekend mass.
Some examples of charitable work we have done this year already include providing 24 winter coats for elementary age children in the Pine Bush Central School District. These coats were delivered to the PBCSD Social Worker in October 2023. She will in turn coordinate with each elementary school nurse for distribution to needy children. Every coat provided to the school was given out by those nurses within a week. This was made possible through our continued charitable 50/50 cost split partnership with the Catholic War Veterans Eugene L. Kelley Post #1937 (Pine Bush, NY) who kindly helped to make this Coats for Kids Program happen on such short notice and limited funds for this year. We were able to secure these coats at cost through the national Knights of Columbus Coats for Kids program. This national program has as of this writing provided over a million coats to kids in need across the US via local Knights Councils. We continue to leverage amazing partnerships like this to make the most out of even the smallest donations.
The Catholic War Vets also split 50/50 cost of new altar clothes for the Infant Saviour Church that were ordered last month and should be used in the coming weeks (if they already have not arrived for use).
We also helped out three families this past year who were in need of money for food, clothing and to pay bills.
We are in the process of also collecting funds from among our Brother Knights to once again do our “Jerry’s Jars”. This is a completely separate fund raising effort from the above ones and uses dedicated funds for just this program. This annual program is done through free will giving of our members and is in honor of our past Financial Secretary Jerry Wieczorek. Jerry passed away a number of years ago, but his program lives on today where we provided a jar of money each Christmas to family/person in need with no strings attached. A select few Brother Knights on our Jerry’s Jar Committee take nominations who are given by trusted sources within our Parish community. This way we know funds are going to those truly in need within the Pine Bush community and that those funds will be used appropriately for those needs. We have done this program for over a decade if not closer to two decades.
We also donated this past year to a local Woman’s Health Center to help single mothers and their children transition to safe housing, local veterans charities such as the Honor Flight and Catholic War Veterans, the Knights of Columbus national RSVP program that provides financial support for seminarians working their way towards the priesthood (so far we have 3 priests ordained who we have supported in prior years), our Religious Education Program at Infant Saviour, and a kiosk full of free books on Catholic spirituality, faith, and family. This is just some examples of the work we have done 2023 to foster religious, personal, and economic welfare/growth within our community.
We also were not able to do our 2023 Annual Coin Drop fundraiser this year due to inclement weather and while we plan on holding the fundraiser in Spring 2024 (more info to come as we get closer) it will be some time until we can do that. As a result, our funds are severely limited therefore until that time and we are in desperate need of raising money to make Christmas Meals happen this Christmas season. If you would like to donate to us you can do so by mailing us a check made out to “Knights 5329 Council”. The check can be mailed via US Postal Service to:
Knights of Columbus 5329
5329 PO Box 166
Thompson Ridge, NY 10985
Your continued support is appreciated as it helps out those most in need within our Parish and the larger Pine Bush community. We appreciate your continued trust in us to use your donations to help out those in need. Thank you again in advance for your generosity and kindness!
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