Category Archives: Amputees

Remembering Amputees at Christmas

20 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Amputees, Wounded Warrior Program

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Our parish is home to a number of veterans.  Many serve as officers in local veterans organizations at a local, district and state level.  You would expect no less from members of a Fourth Degree Assembly, our Patriotic Order of the Knights of Columbus.

Each year, since 2006, the Assembly members have promoted a Veterans’ Day weekend fundraiser.  Their project this year benefits recent amputees who have returned from Afghanistan and other countries.  They are now in the hospital at Ft. Bragg or Camp Lejeune.

Life as an in-patient at a military hospital is, well…  It’s okay. The care is great, but no matter what they do to make a patient comfortable, it is not home.  Imagine being there as an amputee.  They have self doubt, constant pain, and a longing to be with family. But, they are confined to the hospital at Christmas and the hospital is winding down for the holidays.  It will soon be a very lonely place.  Getting these service men and women out of the hospital takes money.  Many don’t have enough to get home and back for more treatment.

We, the men of the Knights of Columbus, have a project to get them home.  Working with the Military Order of the Purple Heart, we raise money around Veterans’ Day.   The parishioners have been very generous each year and this year donated over $3,200.  What we collect is donated as a gift from the people of St. Thomas More Catholic Church.

Did you know that The Military Order of the Purple Heart matches each dollar collected?

Similar collections are taken throughout North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Puerto Rico are doing the same and thousands of dollars were collected.  Last year, 399 amputees were sent home through this effort.

We appreciate the generosity of the parish and want to thank the veterans of the assembly for continuing this annual event in Chapel Hill.  Peace on Earth and Good Will to All Men.

Sending Amputees Home for Christmas

15 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Amputees, Wounded Warrior Program

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

We have been looking after hospitalized amputees for a number of years now.  The brainchild of then District Master Sir Knight Robert Singer, Knights of the Fourth Degree spend their Veterans Day weekend speaking out for our amputees at both the Camp Lejuene and Ft Bragg Hospitals.

Military men and women are always in the hospital over a holiday period.  They are not yet released, so travel pay home is not an option.  Our amputees need to be home with those who love them and we have created a special project for this purpose.

We passed the basket after each mass during 3-4 November.  Total raised at St. Thomas More Catholic Church?  $3,200!  This is awesome in that we are in a very tight economy and personal budgets have taken some heavy hits in our town.  We thank the members of our church for their generosity.

Sir Knights from North and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Puerto Rico join our province assemblies to raise money to send amputees home.  We work with the Military Order of the Purple Heart.  They provide matching funds and they are a 501(c)(3) charity for tax purposes.

This is just one of the many projects Catholic men undertake to help others outside of our church, especially veterans. Want to add a donation to the this year’s project?  Contact us

 

Taking Care of our Hospitalized Military at Christmas

07 Tuesday Dec 2010

Posted by in Amputees, veterans day chapel hill

≈ Leave a comment

It started four years ago with an idea from Sir Knight Robert Singer, Desoto Province District Master.  The Military Order of the Purple Heart had started a program for returning from combat amputees.  They were in military hospitals in Camp Lejeune and Ft. Bragg.  Christmas was fast approaching and they were stuck in the hospital.

Spending Christmas on base was never a pleasant mission.  Spending it on base as a recent amputee waiting to be released is absolutely heartbreaking.  Bob Singer asked North Carolina Assemblies to help send them home by donating money which would then be matched dollar for dollar by the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Our then Faithful Navigator, Lee Heavlin, came up with an idea to ask for a goodwill offering for amputees on Veterans Day after each mass.  We have a Saturday mass and four on Sunday.  Permission was granted to post knights in the narthex and a pulpit announcement was made.

The first year’s Veterans Day total collection was an astounding amount; $3,499.  Each year we managed to maintain this level of giving, even with a tanking economy.  The St. Thomas More Church members have always been generous and the church  continues to support this special offering on Veterans Day weekend each year.

So, “How did we do this year?  Well, true to tradition, the church collection was $3,992.66.  We exceeded last year’s collection by $500.  Wait, it gets better.  Our Fourth Degree Knights in Durham did something extra special this year.

Holy Cross Church passed the collection plate after mass one Sunday.  When the tally came in, Ron Patterson was amazed.  “I thought we would get a few hundred, but then they told me it was $722.47!  I was shocked.”  Holy Cross has only been in its new building for three years, this week.  They are not a wealthy church, but they have big hearts.

Next came St. Matthew Catholic Church in Durham.  The Sir Knights of St. Matthew’s did not pass the plate.  They held a pancake breakfast.  All breakfasts were free, but there was a basket for donations, with proceeds to go to the amputees.  After expenses, $680 was raised.  Another small church with a big heart. In fact, St. Matthew’s is the smallest church in the Assembly.

Are you doing the math?  Our total Assembly contribution this year is $4,672.66.

The groundswell of North Carolina Fourth Degree support for this annual project has spread to neighboring states of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Puerto Rico.  Our province assemblies raised $65,000 last year.  Bob Singer is now our Vice Supreme Master and the supporting knights are all part of the DeSoto Province. 

When someone asks you what we do in the Fourth Degree, tell them this story.  Then tell them any one of a hundred or more that make up the history of Divine Mercy Assembly 3005.  We dare to make a difference by helping others, not ourselves.