Anthony Parco, Fred Newton. On the ground-left to right: Tom Finn,
Phil Monahan, Bill Busta, Paul Crowley, Ivan Muise, Dan Carlin.
Members of the Masconomo Council 1232 Knights of Columbus Manchester by-the Sea are back building garden sheds to benefit refugees in the Middle East and now this year from Ukraine.
Since 2016, the group has raised more than $20,000 for the Christian Refugee Relief Fund, a Knights of Columbus charity that funds medical clinics, food programs and rebuilding efforts for Christian communities in Iraq, through the council’s Project Rebuild.
This year, local Knights’ efforts will extend also to those fleeing horrors of the war in the Ukraine by equally dividing the proceeds of the sale of the garden shed built on the School Street lawn of Sacred Heart Church in Manchester.
“In 2022, Project Rebuild seeks to give those suffering—the returning Christians in the Middle East and the countless refugees streaming from Ukraine—the gifts of love, compassion, faith and charity common to all,” said Knight Doug Greenfield of Hamilton and formerly of Magnolia, in a prepared statement. “As we aid them, we pray for peace for all in both strife-torn regions.”
“Charity is first among the three founding principles of the Knights of Columbus: charity, unity and fraternity. The knights of Masconomo Council 1232 have long championed the fundamental right of those who want to practice their faith in the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity. In recent months, Council 1232 has fund raised on Cape Ann to aid humanitarian relief for refugees driven from Ukraine by the ravages of war.
Greenfield initiated the fundraising effort six years ago. Each year’s shed was built on weekends by Knights of Columbus volunteer teams on Sacred Heart’s rectory lawn and announced by a banner describing the cause benefiting from project’s sale and the donor of the projects’ building materials, which included The Building Center of Gloucester and Timberline of Beverly. The support of The Building Center and Timberline was essential this year as the price of building materials soared due to rising inflation and the supply chain crisis.
