Founded by a young parish priest now on the path to sainthood, the Knights of Columbus has helped strengthen men, their families, their parishes and their communities since 1882. Today, there are more than 1.9 million members of the Knights of Columbus doing good across the world. The Knights of Columbus stands as the strong right arm of the Church, and challenges members to grow in their faith through programs, fraternity and exclusive membership benefits.

Our council has several ongoing programs as well as many events occurring throughout the fraternal year. The following are just a few examples of our programs.

We support the parish through our labors. Individually, many of our members are active on parish commissions or other groups such as St. Vincent de Paul, instruct faith formation, serve as Eucharistic Ministers, lectors and ushers, and the like. As a council, we sponsor and organize various events, and staff or otherwise support other parish activities, including the following:

• ICC Festival
• Parish Auction
• Parish Picnic
• Various Theme Dinners and Pancake Breakfasts
• Stations of the Cross and Fish Fry dinners
• Renovation and clean-up projects
• End-Of-School Student BBQ

Throughout the year, the council participates in fundraisers to support its activities and charities. We try to support what we believe in as Catholic Gentleman with prayer and work. Besides raising funds for charities, these are also events of fraternity and fun.

This shelter is operated by Catholic Community Services and is located adjacent to the Coast Guard facility on the south Seattle waterfront. Council members serve dinner every month to approximately 200-250 men.

STM holds adoration of the Blessed Sacrament the first Friday of every month from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm in the Parish Chapel.

Each general meeting, a collection is taken for support of seminarians. The original concept of this nation-wide K of C program was members would take pennies collected during their everyday life out of circulation until donated to this cause. During the life of the program so far, this council has donated over $40,000 to seminarians directly and the bishops of Washington State for use in their seminarian programs. In addition to supporting the state fund, our council often provides direct support to a local seminarian.

Founded by Thomas Chapman, this fund is used to provide tuition financial aid through the parish school at St. Thomas More to needy families every year. A portion of proceeds from all council fundraising events is automatically placed in this fund.

We look out for and care about our members and their families. As situations arise, we want to acknowledge, console, support and pray for them. Especially we are concerned with any serious injury or illness, or the passing away of a member or loved one. We also want to celebrate joyful occasions as well, such as the birth of a child.

A central concern of our founder, Fr. Michael McGivney, was for the well-being of widows and children. In a poor, working-class community, Fr. McGivney saw too often husbands die and leave their families with no resources. In organizing the Knights of Columbus, a core objective was to pool resources to provide for these situations. From this beginning, the K of C life insurance program has grown into the largest, most respected private insurance organization, receiving the top ratings from A. M. Best and Standard & Poor's. Not only providing excellent life insurance at reasonable rates, but proceeds also support many worthy church causes both nationally and internationally.