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Holidays

Top: Cargill Council 64, Knights of Columbus, widow Theresa M. Brodeur holds the poinsettia that was just presented to her by Cargill Council Brother Knight Casey M. Dundon. Photo by John D. Ryan. Above: Santa Claus reads a story at the Cargill Council 64, Knights of Columbus, annual children’s Christmas party, held for the young children and grandchildren of Cargill’s Knights . Photo: Brian J. Martineau

 

 

Knights lend

helping hand

all year long

PUTNAM — Cargill Council 64 makes a point of supporting widows, children, the local needy and each other. Putnam’s Knights of Columbus did just that in December, holding events for people all along the spectrum.

“That’s what I’m most proud of,” said Cargill Council 64 Grand Knight David G. Lamontagne Sr., the council’s elected leader. “We help a wide range of people in the community. That’s why we’re here.”

It all started with Cargill Council’s 32nd Annual Joe Bousquet Christmas Giving Appeal, when a total of almost 100 council members and others donated over $4,500 to help local, needy people at Christmas time. Named for one of the program’s founders, the late Brother Knight Joe Bousquet, Knights gave out grocery cards to 72 needy families, plus giving another $700 to local food pantries and $200 to a local family with a child being treated for cancer.

The council also made a special gift from its general fund of $375 to a local family in particular need at Christmas.

Meanwhile, the council’s 24 local widows received a red poinsettia, as part of a personal home visit from the Knights.  This was the culmination of Cargill Council’s program to visit and assist the council’s 28 widows. Year-round, the council maintains a dedicated fund to help its widows when requested. Begun in 1995, it’s one of the best K of C programs of its type in the state. For the last two years running, this effort to support the council’s widows has won the Connecticut Knights of Columbus State Council’s Annual Family Service Award.

Cargill Council Past Grand Knight Herman F. Bishop founded the widow’s program when he was grand knight in the mid-1990s.

“Helping the widows of deceased members was one of the main reasons the Knights of Columbus was founded over a hundred years ago,” Bishop said, from his current home in Melbourne, Fla. “We wanted to do something tangible for our widows that was in that spirit. The poinsettias are important, but it’s the visit to each widow that really matters. We wanted our widows to know that we remember them and their husbands and that we care about them as people,” he said.

At the other end of the age range, Cargill Council 64 hosted its annual Christmas party for the young children and grandchildren of its knights. The event included a Christmas tree, pizza, cookies and candy, songs, games, a new toy for every child and a visit from Santa Claus.

Not forgetting themselves, the council held its annual “Tom & Jerry” Christmas party for members. Named for the traditional Christmas eggnog cocktail, Past Grand Knight Robert E. Desrosiers said they’ve held the “Tom & Jerry” party every year since Council 64 moved into its current home, at the former Putnam Polish Club building on Providence Street, in 1976.

“The funny thing is,” Desrosiers said, “nobody drank a ‘Tom & Jerry’ at the party.”

Although December was particularly busy, Cargill Council always has something fun and productive going on. Cargill’s knights raised and donated over $16,000 in the last fraternal year, as part of conducting literally dozens of positive, local programs and events. In addition to its Christmas programs, the council co-sponsored the annual “Thanksgiving Day Turkey Dip” at Quaddick Pond in Thompson to raise funds for muscular dystrophy research and treatment and for Camp Quinebaug in Killingly, which helps local people with disabilities, held food drives for the local poor, provided free, new winter coats for needy local children, held annual Easter egg hunts for children at its two parishes, as well as holding an annual council golf tournament and continuing work to end abortion and assisted suicide and to otherwise support the “Culture of Life.”