The Knights of Columbus, already known for their tireless efforts to promote life and support pregnant women and their children, are taking a giant step forward with their A.S.A.P. initiative launched nationwide this summer.
The “Aid and Support After Pregnancy” program will boost eligible donations made by individual Knights councils, chapters and federations to maternity homes and pregnancy resource centers by 40 percent.
A.S.A.P. builds upon the Knights’ robust array of programs to aid maternity homes and pregnancy resource centers. Beginning this summer, for every $500 that a council donates to a qualified home or center, up to $2,000 in the 2022-23 fraternal year, the Supreme Council will issue a grant of $100 to the same organization. The N.J. State Council will match the national gift, issuing another $100 to the center. Thus, each $500 donation to a maternity home or pregnancy resource center becomes a $700 grant toward life.
The N.J. State Council has appointed David Goeller of the Camden Diocese to head the program statewide.
“It just amplifies what we already do,” explained Goeller, District Deputy of District 54 and a member of the Knights’ Saint Padre Pio Council 14191, Hammonton. “The program’s goal is to show women they are not alone before and after they give birth.”
Pro-life, nonprofit pregnancy centers and maternity homes provide assistance to nearly two million clients each year, and are often lifelines to women and babies in need, offering essential services that may make the difference between a baby being aborted and a baby born into a stable, nurturing environment.
Statistics provided by the Supreme Council show that nationwide, 90 percent of pregnancy resource center funding is raised locally. In 2021, Knights across the United States donated $4.6 million and 469,000 volunteer hours to support these centers and the women and children they serve through cash donations and community service activities.
“We get them diapers, formula, clothes, car seats, even transportation to doctor appointments,” Goeller said. “We are concerned about the women: Many of them are young, were kicked out of their homes by their parents, left by their husbands or boyfriends. They have no other choices.”
In addition to supplying these goods and services to the pregnancy centers, Knights of Columbus are renowned for their Ultrasound Initiative. Last year, Knights nationwide donated $5.6 million to centers for the purchase of 163 machines valued at more than $75 million; since its inception in 2009, more than 1,550 of these machines have been funded and placed in the pregnancy resource centers, giving mothers a first glimpse at their growing child.
The A.S.A.P. initiative is good news for the Knights in the Saint John Paul II Chapter, composed of seven councils in the Camden Diocese. Chapter President Richard MacDonald explained why the Knights of the chapter actively support three pro-life centers: National Life Center Inc., Woodbury; Options for Women, Cherry Hill, and Guadalupe Family Services, Camden.
“Our mission is guided by the teachings of the Church,” said MacDonald, who also serves as District Deputy of District 57 in Gloucester County. “We experienced a victory with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but some see [a pro-life stance] as anti-women. The narrative may have changed, but our mission has not.”
MacDonald’s chapter has held parish breakfasts; taken up collections for diapers, formula and wipes; even prayed outside area abortion clinics to encourage women to continue their pregnancies. “Some women have abortions due to the cost of raising children,” he noted. “This can help.”
Receiving a $100 grant each from both the national Supreme Council and the state council “will encourage the Knights to step up their support,” MacDonald asserted. “The Knights may have been accused of washing their hands of the babies after they are born, but it’s not true.”
MacDonald spoke on behalf of his fellow Knights on his respect for life and the importance of their efforts to preserve it. “I will do this as long as we have to, until life is accepted,” he said. “I want to make sure we give a voice to the unborn.”
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