Knights of Columbus set new records for donations of time, money

Published: 2006-06-20

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CNS) -- The Knights of Columbus set new records for charitable giving and volunteer service hours in 2005, fueled in part by the massive response to the hurricanes that struck the southern United States. Statistics released in June by the Connecticut-based international Catholic men's group set total contributions to charity at all levels at $139,711,619, nearly $4 million more than the previous year. The reported number of volunteer hours by Knights for charitable causes was more than 64 million hours last year, up nearly 1 million hours from 2004. Members contributed another 8.5 million hours to fraternal service activity, the organization reported. There were almost 400,000 Knights of Columbus blood donors during 2005, and Knights made more than 5.4 million visits to the sick and bereaved. Much of the money and many of the volunteer hours were in support of relief efforts along the Gulf Coast following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

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