Knights of Columbus – Council 3205

from the KC National website (6/9/11): http://www.kofc.org/un/en/news/releases/detail/charitable_contributions2011.html

Organization donated $154 million and 70 million service hours in 2010

The Knights of Columbus announced that it set new all-time records for charitable donations and volunteer service hours in 2010. Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson released the results of the Catholic fraternal organization’s annual survey in a presentation to its board of directors and state leaders, meeting June 8-12 at its international headquarters.

The results of the K of C’s Annual Survey of Fraternal Activity for the year ending Dec. 31, 2010 indicate that total charitable contributions reached $154,651,852—exceeding the previous year’s total by more than $3 million. The figure includes $29,083,191 donated by the Supreme Council and $125,568,661 in contributions from the organization’s state and local affiliates.

Sixty percent of the contributions were for projects at the community level, many involving youth activities. Large donations during the period included $1 million distribution for a Food for Families program and $1 million for an effort in cooperation with Project Medishare to give prosthetics to Haitian children who lost limbs during the January 2010 earthquake.

The survey also indicated that the quantity of volunteer service hours to charitable causes by Knights grew to 70,049,433—an increase of 797,507 hours compared to the 2009 total. Among the service programs receiving significant K of C volunteer hours were Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics, and the Global Wheelchair Mission. There were also more than 428,000 K of C blood donations during the year.

Cumulative figures show that during the past decade, the Knights of Columbus has donated $1.406 billion to charity, and provided more than 653 million hours of volunteer service in support of charitable initiatives.

“The Knights of Columbus significantly expanded its outreach to those in need last year, and will continue to do because of the economic problems facing so many people in our communities,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. “Despite the fact that the economy has also created hardship for many of our own members, Knights have stepped up as never before to meet the needs of their neighbors. We have taken very seriously the fact that we are our brother’s keeper.”

The Knights of Columbus was founded by Father Michael J. McGivney, a New Haven parish priest, in 1882. It has grown into the world’s largest lay Catholic organization, with more than 1.8 million members throughout North and Central America, the Philippines, the Caribbean islands and Poland.

Knights of Columbus waged successful defense on East and West Coast cases

June 14, 2011 – Flag Day

(NEW HAVEN, CONN.) – The United States Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance, thus ending a seven year battle involving two separate cases, one originating in California and the other in New Hampshire. The Knights of Columbus, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, played a key role in defending the Pledge as a “defendant intervenor” in both cases.

“The Knights of Columbus is proud to have played a major role in successfully defending the constitutionality of the words ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance,” Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson said. “We were instrumental in persuading Congress to add those words to the Pledge in 1954, and they express a fundamental belief that we have held as a nation since our founding, that we ‘are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights.’ The notion that this somehow violates the First Amendment has now been soundly rejected by both the First and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeal, and the Supreme Court has now allowed both decisions to stand. It is a victory for common sense.”

The Ninth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the Pledge in March 2010 and the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the California case in March 2011. The First Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the Pledge in November 2011 and the Supreme Court denied certiorari in that case yesterday, June 13, 2011.