Council #127 Our Year In Review 2020

2020- The year of COVID-19.  The virus that shut down businesses, vacations, children's play  and even the House of Worship.  However, we are still commanded to do the will of God by promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, spreading His word and doing good deeds unto the congregation on the Church.  Fortunately with modern technology, we are able to fellowship, attend daily Mass and reach out to those in need through Zoom, Youtube and other communicative platforms.

The Knights of Peter Claver, Council #127 continue our Knighted duties of Service to our Church and Service to our Community, in this limited era.  And we prepare for the near future when we all will once again join together in person.  This is our year in review.

JANUARY, 2020

The year started off as usual with our monthly Casino Bus Trip.  Our casino trip is our monthly fundraiser and also do a raffle aboard the bus where all proceeds go to our  St Columba Youth Program.  We were able to have trips in January, February and March before the COVID -19 country wide shut downs.

The month of January also saw us attend our first and only Knights Turn Out for the year.  We turned out for a packed church for Martin Luther King, Jr holiday weekend.

Amidst the virus shutdown we had to cancel our major fundraise for the year.  The film "Gina's Journey" was to premier at St Columba in April.  The film, about a young woman who retraces the footsteps of her ancestor, a slave who escaped on the Underground Railroad, will be rescheduled for 2021.

April saw us begin our bi-annual clothing drive, another fundraiser for our youth group and church ministry.  Usually held in April and September we decided to collect donations every month during the closedown.  We ended up collecting all the way through December as the clothing purchase store did not open up until January, 2021.  After filling a 5x10 storage space we were graciously hosted space for all our overfill by members of our Church, a true blessing as we collected over a hundred bags on top of our initial collection.

The new communication platform Zoom, came in handy for the dog days of summer without most activities open.  We were able to attend Monthly meetings, regional and national conferences.  Bro Knight Maurice Harper continues his duties as Director of High School Youth Activities as well as Director of Confirmation Preparation, weekly meetings and teaching through the Zoom platform.

September-October saw us promote a new fundraiser through a company with web based sales of cookies and candies.  We sought to raise funds for our youth to attend the National Convention in New Orleans.  The sales promotion was a success as we raised over $800.  With cancellation of the 2021 convention we will be meeting with the youth to plan new volunteer activities and programs to use the funds  to benefit the community.

In November we participated in the Tiny Houses for Homeless Youth of Alemeda County.  We collected donations and prepared the house for a youth to call home.

For Thanksgiving, in association with the Knights of Columbus, we distributed over 80 food boxes and over 100 Christmas gifts to families and children of the communities of St Columba and Sacred Heart Parishes.

Bro Knight Kevin Nichols spearheaded the St Columba annual Christmas Concert with an entertaining performance by the choir of Christmas music performed via Zoom.  Together they raised $4180 for the St Columba Meals Program for Seniors and Families in Need.

Finally, our membership grew as we continued to reach out and attract new members.   Under the pandemic guidelines we have 3 new members obligated to the 3rd Degree Knights and 2 new member to the Jr Knights.  We are looking forward to 2021 to complete initiations and grow our commitment of "Service to our Church, Service to our community."

"To this Event the Ages Ran; Make way for Knighthood Make way for Man"