100 Wheelchairs + 13
Brothers,
100 is the number of wheelchairs our council will provide for disabled children at the CRIT Center in La Paz, Mexico as a result of our fundraising drive for the American Wheelchair Mission. The official number was 99, but a few moments ago I received a phone call from brother SK Art Senato, pledging to donate 1 more chair.
UPDATE 4/4/22: Since then this drive has yielded an additional 13 wheelchairs and a total of over $17,000.00 in donations.
As a council we deserve congratulations for a job well done. All our donors deserve our respect and gratitude for their overwhelming support and generosity. We had many single wheelchair donors and 10 Lithograph Recipients.
A special thanks to our Pastor Fr. Eugene Okoli and to all the church staff for their support of this drive during this busy time in Lent, and for supporting the Knights at Holy Spirit.
Again, thanks to all my brother Knights who helped make this a successful fundraising drive.
Vivat Jesus.
Jorge Ruiz, Grand Knight
Knights of Columbus Council 8157
P.S.: Below is an email from Texas Wheelchair Chairman, SK Bill Weber:
From: Bill Weber
Subject: Holy Spirit Wheelchair Sunday Update
Date: March 14, 2022 at 10:56:56 AM CDT
Father Eugene and Brother Knights,
Holy Spirit Council #8157 in Duncanville and the Dallas Diocese held a very successful first ever Wheelchair Sunday over the weekend. $13,105 was collected at the Masses and $1,750 was received online, for a total of $14,855 for 99 wheelchairs. Their funds will go towards providing a large container of 280 wheelchairs for the CRIT Center in La Paz, Mexico.
There were 10 lithographs brought to the event and all of them were handed out to donors of $500 or more. One of the donors was a woman that donated $547. She was in tears as she told me that she donated that amount because it was at 5:47pm when her father passed away.
We gave away the display wheelchair from the weekend to a couple of women that needed one for a child. That would not have been possible without the Wheelchair Sunday and making parishioners aware that the Knights had wheelchairs available locally.
Thank you so much to Fr. Eugene Okoli for his wonderful support of this mission and to Grand Knight Jorge Ruiz for coordinating the event, reading the pulpit talk and helping at all the Masses. Thanks also to the parishioners for their awesome generosity and to the other Brother Knights that read the pulpit talk and helped at the Masses. God bless all of you.
Blessings,
Brother Bill Weber
Texas Wheelchair Chairman
Council Meeting Schedule
