There's no shortage of community helpers around the holiday season. For the Knights of Columbus (KofC) Council 3733, giving back to the community is an everyday effort, according to Grand Knight Vinny Constanzo.

“That’s what this whole organization is about: giving back to the community,” Vinny says. “As a Grand Knight, it’s that Catholic thing of giving back. Helping the needy, the less fortunate, the mentally challenged. [Helping with] things is basically what our mission is. That’s what I love about the Knights of Columbus. There’s not enough of that these days.”

The national KofC fraternal order got its start just down the road in New Haven when it was started by Father Michael J. McGivney in 1882. This knowledge and the mission at hand make it all the more important for Vinny and the North Haven knights to uphold their mission and those Catholic values of community and human dignity.

“We feel that all the time. Everything we’re going now is because of him. When he started this, he just started helping families that were in need. And it grew to this today," says Vinny. "It’s pretty amazing what one guy did to start this whole thing.”

Vinny says he wanted to become part of the Knights of Columbus since moving to North Haven 24 years ago. He got his chance at a Memorial Day parade 12 years after the move.

“I was walking by and they were handing out [applications] if anyone wanted to join. I took an application and have been with them ever since, 12 years now. I went through all the seats to get to Grand Knight,” Vinny says.

Even before joining the KofC, religion played a central role in his upbringing in the New Haven Catholic community, having attended St. Rose’s Church and St. Vincent de Paul School in East Haven for eight years. Before the Knights, he was used to seeing a caring environment of the people around him.

“There was one priest that really touched me, his name was Father Pitaro," says Vinny. "My family was on rough times. My father was sick, and we couldn’t pay the tuition [to school]. And my mother told me later he said, ‘Mrs. Constanzo, what I don’t get from you, I’ll get from someone else. Your son is staying in school.’ I’ll never forget it. To this day, I’m 63 and I still think about that.”

He continues with the significantly supportive role his parish played in his childhood community.

“In my day, church was everything. People had problems, they went to the priest. It was your place where the community met on Sunday, where you had your bingo, your sports nights. They would bring a local hockey player or basketball player. You had the nuns then,” Vinny says. “One of our Thanksgivings, we didn’t have any food. My father wasn’t working. I’ll never forget that day. They knocked on our door and the nuns brought I don’t know how many bags of food. That’s stuck with me as a kid. I never really wanted to be the Grand Knight, but I’m glad I did it because it makes me feel like I’m giving back to what someone gave back to me.”

This holiday season, the Christmas tree lighting on the Town Green is just one of the numerous activities Council 3733 will participate in. They'll make cookies for the night and host a gift collection. Collected gifts will be be sent to the Community Center for those who cannot afford presents. Vinny and the rest of the Knights see the struggle that many still face, prompting their active participation during the end of the year. Before Thanksgiving, the KofC chapter distributed turkeys.

“Even in a town like North Haven, so many don’t have a turkey. They don’t have things to put together for a Thanksgiving dinner,” says Vinny. “There’s a lot of people who are really struggling, and that’s what we’re here for.”

To continue their active role in the community further into the future, Vinny says the Knights are always looking for new members to join their local chapter. His pitch to potential new members rests solidly in the order’s core mission.

“We’re always looking for young Catholic men who want to give back to the community. You’re going to join an organization that is always looking to help. When you join this organization, it’s a brotherhood," Vinny explains. "We only have a little over 200 members, but we’re always giving, upholding what the Catholic Church is all about. Doing the right thing. We’re getting older and we’d love to get some younger guys.”

Ultimately, even with wild news cycles and negative stories that can too often appear, Vinny recognizes that there is more good in the world than bad. And beyond the KofC, he has hope that their core mission of giving back to the community and making the world a better place for everyone will be upheld by the youngest generations, whether they are in religious groups or not.

“They’ve got to turn it around. I’ll tell my sons that all the time. I’ve got to believe [the younger] generation could turn this around, with all the hate in the world. I think things will get better. I keep believing that and I keep praying for that.”

To nominate someone as Person of the Week, email Aaron Rubin at a.rubin@shorepublishing.com.