East Longmeadow Council of Aging interim Director Sharon Giordano and Veterans’ Memorial Committee Chair Terry Glusko receive checks for their respective organizations from St. Michael’s Knights of Columbus Grand Knight Tony Markowski, Chancellor Raymond Dumas, Inside Guard Rich Lyons, Treasurer Ed Racicot and Trustee Paul Cloutier.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
EAST LONGMEADOW — St. Michael’s Knights of Columbus in East Longmeadow presented checks of $2,000 each to the Veterans’ Memorial Committee and the town’s Council on Aging. They are two of the five organizations the Knights gifted with funding recently.
Council on Aging interim Director Sharon Giordano said it had not yet been determined which of the department’s programs would benefit from the funding, although she noted that it could be of particular use to the nutrition program.
East Longmeadow Veterans’ Memorial Committee Chair Terry Glusko said $670,000 had been raised toward the memorial project since 2018. He said it was hard to determine how much was left to be funded because some services are still out to bid. However, he confirmed that the project will break ground in August and is slated to be finished by Memorial Day 2026.
Grand Knight Tony Markowski explained that the organization had received $10,000 in funding from the estate of deceased Knight Nelson Letendre. Markowski said the Knights of Columbus’ founding principles are charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism. With those ideals in mind, members of St. Michael’s Knight of Columbus nominated various organizations they had worked with or donated to in the past.
In addition to the East Longmeadow Council on Aging and the Veterans’ Memorial Committee, the Knights also donated funding to St. Michael’s St. Vincent de Paul Society; Gray House, a social services nonprofit in Springfield’s north end and Homework House, an organization that helps Holyoke children with academic and social supports.
“There’s no need to hoard the money. It does no good sitting in a bank account,” said Markowski. The Knights regularly donate to area organizations, but rarely that much. “When you donate $10,000 — for an organization of our size — it’s a big deal,” he said.
