Local

Knights provide cribs via ‘Project Manger’

For The Catholic Herald

Holy Spirit Council Knights Bob Rose (left) and Dick Cecka load a crib and mattress to deliver to mother in need as part of Project Manger.

1387227413_6bd6.jpg

In the fall of 2009, Dolores Wisecarver, director of A
Woman’s Choice crisis pregnancy center in Falls Church,
published a request for assistance in buying 75 cribs in the
Holy Spirit Church bulletin. Holy Spirit Council 11922 of the
Knights of Columbus wanted to help, so Knight Denny d’Alelio,
council chancellor, went to Wisecarver to gather information.

Wisecarver told d’Alelio that a woman had come to A Woman’s
Choice having had an abortion. When asked why, the woman
said, “Because I don’t even have a crib for the baby I
already have.”

The council decided to take action. A pro-life program called
“Project Manger” was born with the goal of making sure that
no child is ever aborted for the lack of a bed.

With the help of the council and parish community that first
year, the Project Manger team collected enough money to buy
75 cribs, mattresses, and the required sheets and baby
blankets. Each crib was assembled and delivered by teams of
Knights.

By the second year, the waiting list for cribs grew to more
than 150 women. The need has increased every year. In 2011,
Project Manger expanded to Springfield Council 6153, Father
Sikora Council 7922, St. Mary of Sorrow Council 8600 and St.
John Bosco Council 12846. The resulting increase in financial
donations allowed Project Manger to deliver its 500th crib
last year.

Project Manger also distributed cribs to other members of the
Pregnancy Support Network of Northern Virginia that, after
learning about the program’s success, requested an additional
50 cribs. Project Manger now supports four crisis pregnancy
centers throughout Northern Virginia. The additional
recipients this year are AAA Women for Choice in Manassas,
Assist Pregnancy Center in Annandale and Hope in Northern
Virginia in Falls Church.

This expansion brought the 2013 total to 225 cribs.
Twenty-five additional cribs are in reserve. While several
crib manufacturers have been used, the partnership and
support from Colgate Mattress Atlantic Corporation has been
key to the project’s success.

In June, Project Manger delivered more than 75 new cribs,
mattresses and linens to pregnant women in crisis who could
not afford to provide a bed for their newborns. The remaining
150 cribs will be delivered directly to the recipients
throughout the rest of the year.

The delivery operation, organized by d’Alelio, is the key to
the project’s success. This year, more than three dozen
Knights and their families drove more than 600 miles over the
course of six hours to deliver the cribs.

“I can see all the people working together to deliver the
cribs to the expectant mothers,” said Grand Knight Bill
Church of the St. Bernadette Council in Springfield. “It’s a
good feeling inside once we do that.”

“This is the fourth year that I’ve helped deliver cribs,”
said Knight Tom Kennedy of the Holy Spirit Council. “It is a
very personally rewarding event.”

“It’s not just another fundraiser or charity function for the
Knights that help on delivery day,” added d’Alelio. “They
tell me time and time again how much it affects them and gets
them excited about the project.”

“This year, we had a waiting list of 104 babies without beds,
including a set of twins, all of whom were sleeping on old
mattresses with their mothers, or other makeshift
arrangements,” said Wisecarver. “We did have one client three
years ago whose baby tragically died of suffocation while
sleeping in a bed with her parents. So you can see how
important this is for us.”

All this work was born of the Knights’ strong pro-life
mission and their call to Christian charity.

“This week a young woman from the Springfield area who had
been very abortion-minded was leaving her church,” Wisecarver
said. “She just happened to meet one of our clients who had
been a crib recipient. Our client brought her to our office
assuring her that we would help her and her baby. We will
never fully comprehend the ripple effect of this important
mission. This project has acted as a catalyst in restoring
the faith of many of the crib recipients.”

“We have taken a step for the right to life that is very
tangible,” added d’Alelio.

Crib recipient Maria Lopez told one member of the delivery
team: “I could not be more grateful to the Knights for
everything. My baby is going to have a place to sleep now
because of you.”

Former Virginia state deputy Tom Harger said that it is
inspiring to be part of Project Manger.

“We in the Knights are very pro-life, and this, along with
the purchase of ultrasound machines for pregnancy centers, is
at the very heart of that,” Harger said.

Related Articles