Why We Are Here...
The Knights of Columbus
St. Dominic Council #3729 is reaching out from Lakeview. Our Council
home “The Christopher Room” is located in the Heart of Lakeview, New
Orleans, just blocks from the internationally publicized 17th
Canal Street breach. Pre- Katrina our council home was used for monthly
meetings, 1st degree ceremonies, ladies auxiliary meetings/functions,
council parties, blood drives, fund raisers, flag day ceremonies, and on
and on. We were able to maintain the home through rentals on a budget,
with additional discounts for members who often hosted events such as
company crawfish boils, wedding receptions, bridal/baby showers and
other parties. We also opened our doors to the 4th Degree,
Alhambra, Hibernians, Fraternal Order of Police and Boy Scouts to name a
few. Our home actually had members inside when the 17th
street canal levee broke and the city began to fill with water. Those
members and their family had to escape to the second story roof to
survive when waters reached nearly 12 feet inside the Christopher room.
When the
waters receded the Knights discovered we had significant damage to our
beautiful hall and we were severely under insured for damage resulting
from flood damage. We accepted what we had and began moving forward as
a force in the recovery of New Orleans and more particularly Lakeview.
Most of our members lived and some even worked in Lakeview. This has
caused most of our members to deal with the loss of a home, business and
center of religious devotion and service. Our problems have not ended.
Our council had a significant number of older Life members. Many of
those members had their entire life savings invested in their homes in
this neighborhood and were uninsured /underinsured. Many of those
members completely lost their homes. They have been forced to sell, tear
down and move into nursing homes or with family members. We also had a
number of mid range members who were not as old as the Life members and
not as young as the youthful members. Those members also lost their
homes and the middle/later part of their careers have been disrupted.
Many of these members were assisting in the raising of their grand/great
grand children. Finally the youthful /younger members lost their homes,
their careers and resources for their young children such as schools,
sport organizations, etc. Despite having to deal with the above we had a
vision.
Around 18
months ago a small group of members were called to the first
Post-Katrina monthly meeting of the St. Dominic Council. The council
home had mold and mildew halfway to the second story ceiling, the floor
tiles were half up and half coming up. There were no working restrooms
and most members had to bring folding chairs, if they had them after the
storm. A portable generator was running outside provide dim light and
most members were not sure if they should wear eye goggles and dust
masks but they were there for this meeting. After those first few
meetings the vision became clear that the Council home had to be rebuilt
to assist the members, the Lakeview neighborhood, as well as the City of
New Orleans. Unfortunately there were seemingly no resources available.
The members were scattered across the United States and the Deputy Grand
Knight (who now lived 80 miles away) had to step up for the Grand Knight
whose employer permanently relocated him out of state. The council
home was built, improved and always maintained by its members. It has
been financially maintained by revenues from discounted rentals. None
of this was now available due to the widespread catastrophic loss in
this area. Despite those circumstances we have been able to use member
labor / talent, student volunteers and even hall rental as a shelter to
relief workers. Despite these efforts we have been unable to bring this
project to completion. Some of our brother knights feel so dedicated to
the cause they have sought to cash in their Knights of Columbus life
insurance policies and donate the proceeds to this cause. We do not
want to see our brother members take such extreme and potentially
detrimental steps. We need an immediate infusion of funds and resources
from our brother Knights and friends outside of this seriously impacted
region. This infusion is needed to install flooring, replace kitchen
equipment and replace basic items such as tables, chairs, etc. This
will allow us to complete this much needed project and provided a
meeting place for Knights as well as the entire community struggling to
recover.
We ask that
you do what you can to assist a group of brother Knights in need.
You can contact us
at:
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Where we're at...
Above, the hall before. Above right, and below-after.
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What you can do to help...
We greatly appreciate and will accept any cash or in-kind donation. If
you can provide anything for us on our inventory
list, we have the means to pick up within 100 miles of N.O. A cash
donation may be earmarked for specific items if you so choose. We do ask
that you contact any one of the listed members first, prior to sending
any items or purchasing any items for us due to storage concerns and
pending renovation completion of our building.
Please make checks or money order payable to KNOCO, Inc. Because mail
service in the area is still unreliable, we ask that those cash
donations be sent to our financial secretary who is currently living
outside the parish. Please send them to:
Joe Nesser
10950 Jefferson Hwy #N2
New Orleans, LA 70123-1732
Please visit our Contact page for additional donation information.
We ask that you do what you can to assist a group
of Brother Knights in need. |
