Knights of Columbus provides free coats for local residents

Knights of Colombus 1644 Havre Council provided free coats for people in need Friday at the St. Jude Parish Center.

The members said the organization wants to ensure that any member of the community is safe and warm this winter season. The Knights of Colombus consist of hundreds of members across the state of Montana, as well as nationwide and on an international basis.

Steve Don is serving his second term as Grand Knight in Havre. He also served as a Grand Knight in Geraldine, where he used to live. In addition to the coat give away, Don has helped organize the Tootsie Roll Drive.

"We give out Tootsie Rolls to several businesses around town. The funds we get, just a donation, we donate that back to the Havre Day Activity Center. It's going to be a $1,000 check," Don said, "We also have business meetings every second Tuesday of the month, and family dinner meetings on the fourth Tuesday of the month."

"The Knights do a lot of things. We do the fish fry, which then we take and typically donate that to some project going on here within the church. Any excess food we have from that a lot of times we take over to the soup kitchen afterwards," Deputy Grand Knight Doug O'Leary said, "We support local youth going to NCYC, we do a lot for the Special Olympics."

Knights of Columbus District Deputy Frank LaTray said 12 cases of coats were brought to Ft. Belknap for distribution, with each case containing 12 coats, totaling 144 coats provided.

"We pass out food too. We just passed out 14 Christmas baskets in Chinook, with 10 turkeys to families in need," LaTray said. "We just passed the coats out in Fort Belknap. We've been doing this for five years now."

Havre Knight Jerry Kinsella said he was born and raised in Havre and has been a member since 1964.

Ken Tyler said he has been a Knights of Columbus member since 2015.

"It's a really good organization. We do a lot of great work for the church and the city and people all around," Tyler said, "We are trying to give away these coats"

"The stuff that we do for the community, giving back to the community, that's why I joined. I moved here in 2014 ... so I joined the Knights," Tyler said.

LaTray said that, in recent years, the Havre Knights of Columbus have lost two important members of their organization, Jim O'Leary and Leroy Keller.

"Some of the guys that really helped me a lot is Leroy Keller and Jim O'Leary. Those two guys had a lot to do with a lot of stuff around here. They were good strong knights. They pushed a lot of stuff for the Knights, and it grew with them," LaTray said, "They did a lot of good for this community, and surrounding communities also. I sure miss both of them and wish they were with us today."

The coats are free, and available until supplies run out. The Knights have mostly youth coats to offer but can assist in finding ways to provide coats for adults as well. If someone needs a coat, they can call Steve Don at 406-945-4135.