Sacred Heart Columbiettes #4402, Centereach, NY, hosted our annual Toys for Tots dinner last week which was chaired by Blanche Jozwicki, Past President, District Deputy! We collected bags and bags of toys from our members in support of the Toys for Tots program sponsored by our Marines. We are thrilled to know that the toys collected will stay right here in Suffolk County supporting our community.
Pictured in photo are Marine Manuel ("Manny"), Barbara Ryan, President, Jean Bodami, Treasurer, Pat Cavaliere, Secretary, Bridgid Furnari, Financial Secretary, Pauline Adamo Sentinel, and Marine Sabatino ("Tino").
Columbiettes from U.S. and Canada meet on Long Island
September 8, 2010 | Vol. 49, No. 20| MARY GORRY
MARY GORRY | TLIC
Columbiettes from the United States and Canada enjoy lunch and a raffle during this year’s supreme convention.
MELVILLE — More than 200 Columbiettes from across the United States and Canada attended the annual supreme convention at the Marriott here Aug. 20-22, where among other things it was another chance for the international women’s organization to do what they do all year — pray together and raise money for charity.
The Columbiettes were established in 1939 in New York City as a ladies’ organization to work with the Knights of Columbus. They perform charitable works and participate in religious activities, and are devoted to the Blessed Mother, St. Therese the Little Flower, and St. Joan of Arc. The Columbiettes now have more than 12,000 members, with new auxiliaries continuing to form. “You have to be affiliated with a Knights of Columbus council to get started,” explained supreme council president Rose Marie Oliveri, a parishioner of St. Kilian’s Church in Farmingdale. “Our first obligation is to the Knights of Columbus and then we spread it out to the Church.”
The weekend’s events included the annual election of the supreme council officers, business meetings, prayer and Mass, and the chance to catch up with their fellow Columbiettes. “It’s a nice reunion,” noted Oliveri. In addition, the proceeds from several raffles, which included a table full of homemade afghans as prizes, will go toward some of the many charities the Columbiettes raise money for throughout the year.
Just as many Knights of Columbus Councils are based around a parish, so are Columbiette auxiliaries. “We’re very involved in our parishes,” Oliveri noted. “You name the auxiliary and we’re there, serving as Eucharistic ministers, in the ministry of consolation, everywhere.”
Oliveri, who has been a Columbiette since 1964, noted one of her favorite parts about being a member is “working for charities.” She pointed out that local Columbiette auxiliaries on Long Island raised $10,000 to provide relief after the January earthquake in Haiti. They donated the money to Catholic Relief Services, the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. “I was really proud of this,” she said.
Along with the charitable works and support of the Church and Knights of Columbus, she said, “there’s a lot of good camaraderie” as a Columbiette.
