‘People Lost Everything’

Knights are hard at work in areas devastated by recent hurricanes

By Cecilia Hadley

10/24/2024

The stream of people arriving at St. Anthony Catholic Church in search of help has been constant, even weeks after Hurricane Helene struck in late September. The storm caused severe flooding in Mountain City, where St. Anthony is located, and other parts of east Tennessee — damaging homes and infrastructure, shutting down businesses, and killing at least 17.

“People are coming like crazy. Literally every day, there are tons of people here,” Ron Carbone, who leads the K of C round table at St. Anthony, said Oct. 18. “This is one of the poorer communities in Tennessee. These are people who have nothing, and they’ve lost whatever little they had.”

Thankfully, the stream of trucks arriving with water, food, clothes, diapers and more has been constant too — and local Knights have been on hand every day with their pastor and the parish women’s group to unload deliveries, sort items and assist neighbors looking for basic supplies.

Aid is coming from many places, including the Supreme Council, which is assisting Helene relief efforts in Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, as well as Hurricane Milton relief in Florida. With support from the United in Charity Fund, three truckloads of water have been delivered to Tennessee, and more than 350 coats will soon arrive — winter clothing is an urgent need in the mountainous region, where temperatures are already dropping into the 30s at night.

K of C councils in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Illinois and Texas have also sent supplies, and local Knights are working with parishes, the Diocese of Knoxville and Catholic Charities to distribute them, said Tennessee State Deputy William Markiewicz.

“Needs would come up, and they would just do it,” Markiewicz said. “They didn’t wait to ask permission or somebody to tell them to do it. They just jumped in and made things happen.”

Knights mobilized as well in neighboring North Carolina, where Hurricane Helene killed nearly 100 people. Councils in relatively unscathed parts of the state collected water and other supplies and trucked them to a central warehouse, from where they were directed to harder-hit communities. The Supreme Council contributed $20,000 and 100 gift cards of $100 each, and more donations came in from out-of-state K of C councils.

North Carolina State Deputy Sergio Miranda praised his Knights, particularly St. Margaret Mary Council 13016 in Swannanoa and Father Joseph Maule Council 8923 in Arden, both in western North Carolina.

“These folks are just stepping up,” he said. “They’re using their gifts to bring humanity back to all these families that have been affected by this disaster. There’s a sense of pride just being with these men who are doing all they can to help their fellow parishioners, their fellow brother, their fellow man.”

In Georgia, State Deputy T.J. McCaustland has been crisscrossing the state, distributing $100 gift cards from the Knights of Columbus and larger donations to people whose homes have been lost or severely damaged. Grants of $1,500 have been made to Knights, the widow of a Knight, and a family caring for a son with special needs who were forced to leave their rental home.

While the Georgia State Council has been helping to coordinate the K of C response, McCaustland said that a lot of work is happening at a grassroots level — one council contacting another to see what they need, district deputies putting out a call for supplies, a grand knight asking his pastor, “What can we do?”

For example, Sacred Heart Catholic Parish in Vidalia, Georgia, has received supplies and clean-up assistance from about half a dozen different K of C councils, according to Kevin Schneider, grand knight of Vidalia’s Father Clement Borschers Council 8568.

“It was very overwhelming and humbling to see so much generosity and support for my brother Knights,” Schneider said. “I’ve been a Knight in three different states, and this is the first time I’ve experienced a disaster. How the Georgia Knights responded was amazing.”

One of the first deliveries to Vidalia was by District Deputy Ed Armijo. On Oct. 2, with help from his councils in the Warner-Robins area, Armijo loaded a trailer with pallets of bottled water and drove to Vidalia. Normally less than two hours, the drive took longer because of his heavy load and the debris that littered the roads.

But Armijo was back on the road a few days later, this time bringing food and water from Knights in Warner-Robins to St. Paul Catholic Church in Douglas.

“Literally the whole parish was waiting for me to get there,” he said. “I backed the trailer up to church, and the priest and the children and everybody were helping me offload the supplies.”

In the coming days, State Deputy McCaustland said, Georgia Knights will be forming “chainsaw brigades” to help those who need it clear trees, branches and other debris.

For Ron Carbone, the Knight helping to organize aid in Tennessee, the last three weeks have been exhausting, both physically and emotionally.

“A lot of these people don’t need just clothes and food and money and water; they need a shoulder to cry on, somebody to hug them,” he said. “There’s just a lot of heartache here. People need everything. People lost everything.”

At the same time, his work with brother Knights, and the aid that continues to arrive at St. Anthony, have strengthened his faith in God and man.

“I’m so glad I joined the Knights; it’s been such a godsend for me,” Carbone said. “You do a lot more connecting to God when you see things like this and you’re able to help.”

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Support K of C disaster relief efforts at kofccharities.org.

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CECILIA HADLEY is an editorial director in the Knights of Columbus communications department.