Mid-Island Council #3842
Knights of Columbus
P.O. Box 426
Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 5L3 Canada
Annual March for Life, Victoria, B.C., May 8, 2025
Most Rev. Gary Gordon, Bishop of Victoria, speaks at the Mass.
Approximately 1500-2000 people gathered on a beautiful, warm spring day in Victoria, BC for the Annual Western Canada "March for Life". The event began at 12:00 noon at St. Andrew's Cathedral with a Mass presided by Bishop of Victoria, Gary Gordon. The marchers assembled at Centennial Square, and from there began their trek down Government St. at 1;45 pm with banners and hundreds of "Love life - Choose Life" posters. As in past years, the crowd included men, women and children from all walks of life and from many corners of our province. The march took about 30 minutes to reach the Legislature. Six excellent speakers addressed the crowds including, Fr. Larry Lynn, Troy Van Vliet, Dr. Cynthia Barco, Bronwyn Gray, Gabrielle Raymond and Rev. Aaron Van Der Heiden leading the closing prayer. This year’s national theme was We are full of joy — a call for all of us never to forget the most vulnerable in our society, the child in the womb, the hungry and starving, those suffering famine and war, the sick, and the elderly. Each speaker in turn, in his or her own way, exhorted the crowd to work toward exactly that end, by keep spreading the pro-life message and to support life from in the womb to its natural end.
Exemplification of Charity, Unity and Fraternity
February 4, 2025
On Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, at about 8:00 pm, right after the Tuesday evening Mass, we conducted our second Exemplification of Charity, Unity and Fraternity in St.Peter’s Church. We had eight members taking their degrees for our council, (in picture, front row, l to r) Bros. Vince Amigale, Ward Brager, Akolisa Ejimakor, Callum Mackenzie, Ross Macknzie, Olisa Oraka, David Paydli, and Chris Newcombe. All had taken out their on-line memberships a few months earlier and most were recruited during our previous membership drive.
Brother Brian King presents the lesson on Charity.
G.K. Louis Curti invests Bro. Callum Mackenzie with the Rosary of Our Lady
Bro. Dan Bossert distributes the fibers.
The candidate break the fibers.
We thank the members of the Degree Teams for putting on the Exemplifications with such great dignity and inspiration.
A very special ‘thank you’ also to our Chaplain, Father Harrison Ayer for his participation, our Worthy D.D. Garry Shepp for his presence and support, and all our brothers Knights, their families and friends for coming out and showing their support.
We are now happy to welcome our new Brothers to our ranks and wish them many years of happy and fruitful service to and for our council. Welcome Brothers!
Our School Pancake Breakfast Program
Over the last 20 years, our Council has prepared and served pancake breakfasts to 3-5 elementary schools annually, feeding at each event anywhere between 250-400 students, teachers, and some times even parents. During the 2024/25 fraternal year, we served 5 schools. On April 2, 2025, we were at Seaview School where twelve of our brother Knights came together and worked as shown in the picture on the right: (back row, l. to r.) Hans Fadum, Randy Wilkes, Lou Curti, Brian King, Ward Brager, Garnet Gauthier, Dan Bossert, Jim Cassino, (front row) Andy Airriess, Dan DePape, Ed Campbell, and (not pictured) Gilles Brouard. They arrived as early as 6:00 in the morning to set up and get everything ready. The hot delicious pancakes and sausages were thoroughly enjoyed by all as was evident by the many happy and smiling faces, and above all, by the many children who returned multiple times for "second' helpings!
Bro. Brian is busy playing with the mud -- even though he calls it "preparing the dough"!
Bro. Ed is busy making sure those sausages are done to perfection!
Leave it to Bro. Randy to get into those dirty dishes and make them sparkle like new again!
As always, this was a very gratifying experience for all the Brothers involved, especially with the realization and knowledge that at least on this one day, and indeed on every other pancake day, they make a real difference in the lives of theses children. With the grateful financial support of the provincial Gaming Commission, we hope to be able to continue this program for many years to come. Thank you very much Brothers!
Annual Baby Shower for local Pregnancy Centre
We hosted our Annual Baby Shower during January 2025. The program aims to raise funds and collect donations of various baby supplies and clothes for our local pregnancy centre. A baby crib is set up in St.Peter’s Church foyer and used to collect the donations. In addition, envelops are made available for monetary contributions. All items are then presented to the Nanaimo Crossroads Pregnancy Centre, who sorts, stores, and distributes them. Year after year parishioners respond with great generosity! In the picture, Bros. Randy Wilkes and Brian King present the donations of our campaign to Noreen MacLeod, Director of the Centre and one of her assistant. The many items included formula, brand new items, used items, diapers, etc. The Centre sorted them and provided us an estimate value of an incredible $2,661.50. In addition, $2,623.50 in cash was collected and presented on behalf of our Council from our very generous parishioners. And finally to top it all off, the Knights of Columbus Supreme Office, through its Aid and Support After Pregnancy (ASAP) Program, contributed another $400 directly to the Centre. We extend our very sincere thanks to all parishioners who contribute so generously year after year, and to Bro. Randy Wilkes and Brian King for continuing to organize and manage the project so well. The Pregnancy Centre, on its part, is always extremely grateful for our contribution and continued support.
Fun Day at Park Avenue School, June 7, 2025
For more pictures, please visit the “Gallery” page.
As on previous occasions, we were very happy to participate again in Park Avenue School’s Fun Day fund raiser this year. On Saturday, June 7, 2025, eleven of our brother Knights helped in this bi-annual event. For about 5 hours, (in picture, l to r back row), Bros. Hans Fadum, Garnet Gauthier, Lou Curti, Randy Wilkes, Dominic Petraroia, Barry Webb (front row) Steven Maughan, Dan Bossert, Andy Airriess, Dan DePape, and (not pictured) Jim Cassino, worked along with a large number of parents, teachers and other community volunteers providing various fun activities for the children. While Bros. Andy and Dan Bossert, crossed off tickets and prepared the buns for the hamburgers and hot dogs; Bros. Steven, Garnet, and Hans served and crossed off the tickets for the drinks and snacks; and, finally and most importantly, Bros. Dan DePape, Lou, Jim, Randy, Dominic and Barry were in charge of the barbeques! By all accounts, the day was a great success, judging by the many happy and excited children! Well done, Brothers.
Coats for Kids, Nov. 2017 .......
(Italic narrative taken from: Knights of Columbus, Charities, Coats for Kids web page, at www.kofc.org)
“When families struggle to clothe their children with warm coats in the winter, Knights of Columbus councils help meet this basic need with the Coats for Kids program. As part of the Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Coats for Kids allows councils across North America to purchase new winter coats for children at a discount and to distribute them to children in need in their local communities.
Since the program’s launching in 2009, more than 310,000 coats have been distributed in 49 states and all 10 Canadian provinces. In winter 2016 alone, the Knights of Columbus distributed 78,576 coats in 1,600 communities throughout the U.S. and Canada, including events at military bases, in Native American communities, at inner-city neighborhoods and through partnerships with local police and fire departments...
[As for example,] in Connecticut 4,680 coats were distributed during the 2015-16 fraternal in 35 communities. At another Coats for Kids event, this time on the Monday prior to Super Bowl L, more than 270 students at Our Lady of the Visitation school in San Francisco received new coats. California Knights of Columbus and representatives from the Supreme Council headquarters joined Football Hall of Famers Anthony Muñoz (Cincinnati Bengals) and Dave Casper (Oakland Raiders), Raiders Head Coach Jack Del Rio and his wife Linda, and several current NFL players and coaches to distribute the coats to the students at the Catholic grammar school...
These are just some of the thousands of activities that the Knights of Columbus members regularly conduct in their communities to help those in need…”
We are proud to add our council to that list. Through a very generous anonymous donation to our Council, we were able to purchase 12 boys and 12 girls coats for both Bayview and Park Avenue schools. In the top picture, our Worthy G.K. Greg Large presents the coats to Kevin Brand, principal, & Michelle Swecera, Community School Coordinator, of Bayview School; and in the picture below, he presents the coats to R. Dhillon, principal of Park Avenue School.........
and.......Coats for Kids, Dec. 2018
In December 2018, our council and brother council, Holy Trinity#9990, joined forces to purchase 48 more coats for the children of the Ahousaht First Nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island. On Sunday December 16, G.K. Greg Large and Bro. Tony Bucar joined G.K. Aurel Muego and Bro. Mick Brzoza of Holy Trinity Council loading four large boxes of coats into a truck and headed for Port Alberni to meet up with Sisters Janet Byron & Lilia Samaniego along with D.D. Glenn Wynans. As soon as the weather will again be safe for crossings from Tofino to Ahousaht, the Sisters will assist in the distribution of these coats. Ahousaht, also spelled Ahousat, is the principal settlement on Flores Island, in British Columbia, Canada. Accessible only by water or air, Ahousaht is a small community predominantly composed of First Nations people from the Nuu-chah-nulth nation.
In the picture, Bro. Tony Bucar (left) and G.K. Greg Large present the coats to the Sisters.
