The
Knights of Columbus Council 3335 St. Louis Church in Gallipolis held their
annual Free Throw Contest at the GDC Gym for the developmentally disabled
children of Guiding Hands School and the adults of Gallco Industries in
observance of Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. All of the participants received t-shirts and
plaques. Council 3335 has been doing
this for over 20 years. Laura Griffith
Johnson of Guiding Hand and Lisa Ward of Gallco were among others very helpful.
The
knights receive more from the experience than they give in organizing the
event, keeping score, refereeing, and cheering on the participants. It was fulfilling and fun. The kids and adults teach the men to
appreciate their blessings and give them an opportunity to love.
The
men see in them a special beauty as children of God. Beautiful is their simplicity and ability to
enjoy the little things in life. They
see the heart rather than the disability.
One knight exclaimed: “They’ll probably make it to heaven before all of
us while we beg for mercy!” As
Mother Theresa said, God does not ask us to be successful; He asks us to be
faithful. Success is really doing one’s
best to serve with love relative to one’s abilities and opportunities. There are canonized saints who were
handicapped and their disability made them saints through unusual holiness and heroic virtue.
The state funded Guiding Hand School with 50 students includes pre-school,
elementary, middle, and high school………from the 3 Rs to life, social, and job
skills. When adults, they live with
their families, in group homes, or if possible on their own in supervised
apartments. There’s one who drives a
car.
Gallco Industries, a sheltered
workshop, focuses on job training and rehabilitation in addition to skills
necessary for independent living such as handling money and other
activities. The emphasis is on what they
can do rather than what they cannot. The
workers receive minimum wage, doing such jobs as product labeling and working
on gears for GKN. Galco provides
cleaning and lawn care crews for churches and other institutions. Some transition into jobs in the community,
working for Arby, Walmart, captain D, Red’s Auto, etc. Holding a job gives them so much dignity. DISABLED DOES NOT MEAN UNABLE.
The Knights of Columbus is
the world’s largest Catholic lay organization.
It provides members and their families with volunteer opportunities in
service to the Church, their communities, and youth. With more than 1.8 million members in over
15,000 councils around the world, the Knights of Columbus annually donates more
than $170 million and 70 million hours of service to charitable causes. The most prominent community activities of
the St. Louis Council include the Coats for Kids campaign, Substance Abuse Awareness, and the Basketball Free Throw
for developmentally disabled children
and adults of the Rehabilitation Center.
Please visit kofc.org and kofcohio.org for more information.
All faithful Catholic men of the
area are invited to join the Knights of Columbus (call Bruce Davison, the Grand
Knight at 256-1427). Members enjoy great
fellowship along with family activities and opportunities to serve the parish
and the community. A big bonus is the
life insurance program to protect families.
It ranks at the very top as to financial stability among all insurance
organizations and companies. Any profits
do not go to stockholders, but rather are returned to the insured in rebates
and used for a number of charitable causes.
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