Knights Raise Funds for St. Kilian's

By Andrea Halpern

The Farmingdale Council of the Knights of Columbus recently raised over $3,000 to support St. Kilian Roman Catholic Church of Farmingdale.

The funds were raised through a raffle drive conducted by the New York State Knights of Columbus, in which the Farmingdale Knights participated. The Knights sold chance books from May until a drawing was held in December. The drive was able to raise the funds, according to Robert Mercado, charitable and benevolent chairman for the Farmingdale Knights, thanks to the generosity of St. Kilian parishioners.

With the help of Msgr. Charles W. Swiger, pastor of St. Kilian, the local Knights mailed a chance book to each member of the parish, hoping that they would mail back the chance stub - with their name on it - and $12, the cost of the chance. Noting that the group mailed out about 5200 books, Mercado said, "The good people of St. Kilian sent back over 500 books."

The Farmingdale Knights saw the raffle as a success, according to Mercado, who noted that this was the first year the group used the technique of mailing out the chance stubs to parishioners. "This one took off, and it paid off," he said.

Because the drive was held as part of a statewide fund raiser conducted by the New York State Knights, St. Kilian's parish received $6 for every $12 raffle. The other $6 benefited other parishes throughout the state.

The prizes in the drawing consisted of 25 awards of $1000 and one award of $25,000. Although there were no winners from Farmingdale, there were some winners from such neighboring areas as Bethpage, Massapequa and Levittown, according to Mercado. "Long Island had quite a few winners, but unfortunately no one from Farmingdale," he said, adding, "But the best part was that we did raise the money for the church."

The Knights presented a check in the amount of the funds to Msgr. Swiger at a recent Sunday brunch in the Knights' Farmingdale Council center on Morton Street. The brunch took place after the Farmingdale Knights and Columbiettes celebrated a Memorial Mass for their deceased members at St. Kilian Church.