Seaford's Memorare Knights of Columbus host charity fund distribution ceremony

Seaford’s Memorare Council of the Knights of Columbus hosted its annual charity fund check distribution ceremony during its council meeting on March 20.

The council honored 13 charities across Long Island that help various groups in need.

“The Knights of Columbus was partly formed to support local parishes, and we support them with whatever they need, but we also assist the community,” Michael Nardo, the grand knight of the Memorare Council, said.

The distribution ceremony is “the culmination of our yearly fundraising efforts in the community through events, donations and our annual charity drawing,” Nardo added.

Representatives of the charities were called up one by one to accept their checks and speak about what they do. Among them was the Seaford High School 9/11 Memorial Committee.

“We provide five monetary awards to five graduating seniors in memory of each of the alumni that were killed in the 9/11 attacks,” explained Ken Haskell, president of the committee and one of its founding members, who lost his brothers Tommy and Timmy, bothe members of the New York City Fire Department on Sept. 11. “We’re about keeping their memory alive and encouraging community service.”

The committee also presents awards each year to three members of the Seaford community who have made unique contributions. The organization built, and maintains, a 9/11 memorial at Seaford High School, and hosts a senior class trip to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in Manhattan each year.

“We need to raise money every year to support the awards (and) to maintain the memorial, and any money that we take in goes right back out to our program and back into the community,” Haskell said.

Also in attendance was Rick Genovese, founder and general manager of the Take Me Out to the Ballgame Foundation, which was created in 2007 “to assist families in need and create family building experiences for children and their parents,” according to its website. The foundation, based in Seaford, is dedicated to helping “families in crisis,” and has teamed up with organizations across Long Island to provide those families with assistance.

“Today we have eight food pantries on Long Island we fill four times a year, and we give out over 500 turkeys and hams to those food pantries,” Genovese said. “We give each pantry a budget each year for winter clothing, because the things that we have in our closet, (families in need) don’t have any of that.”

The foundation throws an annual Christmas party, and recently launched a new initiative called the McDonald’s Program, in which it gives out McDonald’s gift cards through the food pantries.

“We try to expand our foundation every year,” Genovese said. “I never thought it would be this big, and we’re able to expand because of donations like this.”

The Memorare Knights of Columbus is closely connected to Seaford churches, including St. William the Abbott, one of three Catholic churches in town that received donations from the council. The Rev. Joe Fitzgerald accepted the donation on behalf of the parish, and said it would use the money to help the 5,000 families in its community.

“It’s a blessing to be connected to the mission of the Catholic Church, which is to feed the hungry and take care of the poor,” Fitzgerald said.

Other charities that received donations from the Memorare Council include the Diocese of Rockville Center, the Catholic Faith Network, True North Community Church, the Dominican Sisters of Amityville, the Guide Dog Foundation, the Ladles of Hope Soup Kitchen, Camp Northstar, AMT Children of Hope, and the Life Center of Long Island.

The Knights of Columbus was founded in 1882 with a focus on charity, according to its website. It now has branches around the world, and continues to prioritize Catholic values and provide assistance to those in need.

“It’s an extension of the Catholic faith,” Ronald Provence, a member and third-degree knight of the organization, said. “We give people an opportunity to participate in their faith in the community (and) to be with men and women of similar values.”