Knights’ Kids Recap

On Saturday morning 12/8/18, 15 brother Knights, their wives and families took the meaning of Christmas to heart and took 14 underprivileged children ranging in ages from 6-11, Christmas shopping. The Knights of Columbus council #9482 at St. Andrew the Apostle parish, sponsored a Knights Kids event which allowed these children, some of which would not have received any gifts on Christmas, to experience to true meaning of giving.

This was the council’s first attempt at organizing the event. The council had earlier approved a budget to fund the event. The council also received donations from “Angel” brothers wishing to donate towards the event.

The goal of the event was to clothe the children from the inside out, making sure every child also received a new pair of sneakers or shoes. The Knights teamed with the council from Corpus Christi, who had been running a similar event for the past 11 years. We met with members of the Corpus Christi council to discuss logistics and expectations and they were also on-hand the day of our event to ensure things proceeded as planned.

Corpus Christi has partnered with J.C. Penney, located at Ray Rd and I 10 in Chandler, AZ to hold this event annually. and J. C. Penney also extended this invitation to our council to hold a 2nd event for needy children. The staff at J.C. Penney also held a toy drive internally to collect toys for these children to be given to each child after they completed shopping. J.C. Penney also provided donuts, juice and coffee for all the children and participants. Without the support of J.C. Penney management and staff, this event would not have happened. They were absolutely amazing to work with.

Our council also provided a Santa to great the children after they completed shopping and present them with the toys provided by the J.C. Penney staff. This was an outstanding affair and everyone who participated was moved by and grateful that they could participate in such a wonderful event. We will absolutely hold this event again next year with the anticipation that we can bring joy to more needy children as the event grows. We will also be collecting donations from “Angels” throughout the year to help fund our efforts going forward.

Fraternally,

SK Alex Santucci