The Knights of Columbus Mother Teresa of Calcutta Council #12181 from St. John the Baptist Catholic Church recently donated $1,300 of the proceeds from their Draper Days and rodeo food booths.  Assistant Grand Knight Anthony Ratola said about 50 of their members volunteered at the food booths to raise the funds that were shared among several charities.

“It’s a lot of manpower for us,” he said.

Ratola explained that because the city invites their group to participate in Draper Days, they give a lot of it back to the city, “…with sincere appreciation and continued support for the community.” Ratola was joined by fellow Knight Richard Lewis in presenting the donation.

Mayor Troy Walker joked that he’d pocket that check when, in fact, the city council will decide at a future date how the donation will be used.

One week later, the Knights gifted $1,500 to the Draper Police Department’s Crime Victim Services unit from funds they raised selling tamales over the holidays. Grand Knight Karl VanMaren said the group had sold over 300 boxes of tamales in that effort, totaling over 3,000 individual tamales.

That donation will be used for emergency funds for victims of domestic violence for items such as hotel rooms, food and new key locks for those fleeing abusive situations. Police Chief Bryan Roberts joined the council in accepting and thanking the Knights for their donation.