When several members of St. Clement Church’s Knights of Columbus recently presented three checks each totaling $1,000 to area centers for the disabled, it was a touching experience for them, especially Chancellor John Smik.
“It was a very personal thing for me because our son, Chris, has been part of these three institutions,” Smik said.
Chris, now 51, has been mentally disabled since he was a child and became a quadriplegic seven years ago when he fell getting out of a van.
Grand Knight Steve Barta said volunteers spent hundreds of hours raising $3,000 in donations for the council’s annual “Citizens with Disabilities Campaign.”
The checks were presented in November to MacDonald Training Center’s James Ranch in Plant City, Sunrise Community Inc. in Riverview and Ridgeland Group Home Inc. in Bloomingdale.
“We worked so hard to raise this money,” Deputy Grand Knight Tony DeFrancesco said. “But visiting all three centers was an eye opener. You do not get the full value of what these donations accomplish until you realize what the centers do for their clients and see the expression on their faces.”