Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / K of C helps keep 1,200 kids warm with coat giveaway
K of C helps keep 1,200 kids warm with coat giveaway
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published February 20, 2009
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Gary M. Kolbicz | Knights of Columbus
Wearing their new coats are (front row, from left) Jordan and Jayden Cheatom, and (middle row) Brandon and Ashley Cheatom, with (back row) their dad, Alexander Cheatom and Jessie Burrell, district director for Knights of Columbus District 15, at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral Center in Detroit last Saturday. |
Detroit — Knights of Columbus from 13 councils in Detroit and suburbs distributed more than 2,100 coats to needy children aged 6 to 12 at three Detroit sites last Saturday.
"We were started 126 years ago by a priest to help widows and orphans, so this is part of our mission," said John R. "Bob" Moody of DeWitt, K of C state deputy for Michigan.
The effort is part of a multi-city effort to distribute 7,800 coats the K of C Supreme Council purchased from OshKosh B'gosh and London Fog. The program began Jan. 19 with a similar distribution in Washington, D.C.
Locally, the coats were distributed at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and Ste. Anne de Detroit parishes and at the Samaritan Center, the social services center co-sponsored by Holy Cross Children's Services on the city's lower east side.
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Gary M. Kolbicz | Knights of Columbus
Wearing the new coats they received from the Knights of Columbus at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral Center last Saturday are (from left) Hope and Celone Thomas. |
Moody said the two councils that were most involved in the project were those at Most Blessed Sacrament and Ste. Anne parishes, along with Detroit-area K of C directors Tony Bitorini, Frank Roche, Paul Thorne and Jeff Stawasz. "This came up with only two days' notice, and those Knights from those two parishes sure moved a lot of coats on short notice," Moody continued.
He said the Knights' Supreme Council sent a total of 3,000 coats to Detroit, and that the leftover coats were being given to Project Hope, a local charity.
Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said of the K of C's Coats for Kids campaign, "As our nation faces tough economic times, we believe it is very important to respond within our communities in concrete ways to help those most in need."
Coats for Kids is an outgrowth of the Knights' Help a Child in Need campaign, which began in 2006 with a nationwide television appeal for donations to charities that support the needs of children.
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