St. Mary's Knights host veterans appreciation dinner
On Nov. 12, St. Mary of Huntley Knights of Columbus Council 11666 held its second annual veterans appreciation dinner.
This year's honoree were the veterans of the Korean War. The evening featured a penne pasta and meatballs dinner, with a desert of tiramisu.
Starting off, the 4th Degree Knights carried in the military flags, after which a touching video tribute was shown.
Grand Knight Nick Nakis presented a check of $2,000 to Laura Frantz of TLS Veterans, a McHenry-based resource center for veterans and their families.
For information on TLS Veterans, visit tlsveterans.org or www.facebook.com/TLSVeterans. TLS Veterans (also known as Transitional Living Services) was founded in 1996 by Alan Belcher, a Vietnam combat veteran and licensed counselor. Since 2001, it has operated New Horizons, a transitional living program in Hebron for 20 homeless veterans who want a chance to rebuild their lives. Veterans from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom have successfully participated in these services and have found employment, reconnected with their communities and rejoined their families.
In 2011, TLS Veterans opened a site at 5330 W. Elm St. in McHenry. The drop-in resource center for veterans and their families offers certified veteran peer support to any veteran and family in need of assistance. The peer support group provides access to the food pantry on site, individual and group support for veterans in recovery, information for veterans struggling with claims process, and referral to other agency services such as transitional living, employment assistance, housing assistance, and counseling. It has many community partners that work together to offer a safety network for veterans in need.
To learn more about the local Knights of Columbus, visit huntleyknights.org or www.facebook.com/huntleyknights.
The Knights of Columbus is an international Catholic family fraternal service organization with nearly 1.9 million members in over 15,342 local councils. Last year, Knights donated 73.5 million volunteer hours and $176.9 million in charitable and benevolent causes, sponsoring projects to benefit their church, councils, communities, families and youth. From the moment of its founding in 1882, charity has been the first principle of the Knights of Columbus. They are men of faith and men of action.