Knights raise funds to help needy

From the Sunday, November 23, 2008 edition of the Northwest Herald:

Knights raise funds to help needy
By DIANA SROKA - dsroka@nwherald.com

McHENRY – The basement of St. Patrick Catholic Church in McHenry operated like a swift and efficient assembly line Saturday.

By early morning, two rows of volunteers had lined up, each with an empty cardboard box ready for filling.

In went four cans of corn. Four cans of green beans. One container of apple juice. Next box. Move up in line for the turkey gravy, cranberry sauce and yam, until the last stop: a frozen turkey.

More than 80 volunteers spent their morning packing 240 boxes of Thanksgiving dinners for needy families in the area.

The effort was headed by Knights of Columbus Council 1288, a Catholic, fraternal men’s organization. Last year, the group raised enough money to feed 60 families, so this year, organizers sought to feed 100, organizer Chuck Caner said.

“We don’t care if they’re Catholic or if they even have a religion,” Caner said. “If they’re in need, we want to help them out.”

They asked members of local parishes to donate to the cause to meet their goal and were pleasantly surprised.

By Friday, more than $27,000 had been raised – enough to feed 240 families for Thanksgiving and another 300 families at Christmas.

“It’s actually been quite emotional for us,” he said.

Volunteers from Church of the Holy Apostles and St. Mary and St. Patrick Catholic churches in McHenry, Family Services of McHenry and other local organizations spent Saturday morning packing up boxes with everything from potatoes and stuffing to pumpkin pie and brownie mix.

“It’s pretty good,” said Family Services volunteer Melissa Sanders of Crystal Lake, as she grabbed another empty box to fill.

Even volunteers were surprised by the amount of money that was raised.

“I don’t think anybody was expecting this,” said Milica Glaw of McHenry. “They managed to collect quite a bit of money and help a lot of people this year.”