Past KOC State Officer Don Sutton (left) receives a $25,000 donation from Waterbury Grand Knight Steve Longchamp (right). The donation will benefit construction of the Chapel at Camp Ta-Kum-Ta.
On Monday, November 11th at the Knights of Columbus Hall located at St. Andrew’s Parish Hall in Waterbury, Don Sutton, a champion of the South Hero based charity Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, was presented with a donation check of $25,000. This generous donation was a result of Council 2085’s desire to help finish construction of Camp Ta-Kum-Ta’s Memorial Chapel to serve the needs of children and their families who attend Camp Ta-Kum-Ta.
“We are thrilled to be able to receive this donation,” stated Don Sutton as he accepted the check.
“As 2014 is Camp Ta-Kum-Ta’s 30th Anniversary, we wanted to make sure that the Chapel would be ready and available to contribute to the camp’s mission of helping kids with cancer,” said Grand Knight, Steve Longchamp, of the Waterbury Council.
Sutton, of the South Burlington Knights of Columbus, led the effort to first build the chapel at its original location at Camp Holy Cross in Colchester in 1985. After Camp Holy Cross closed in 2008, Sutton, along with many dedicated volunteers dismantled, transported, and reconstructed the chapel to its present location at Camp Ta-Kum-Ta in South Hero.
“We are honored to be able to donate to this cause in the name of all our Brother Knights,” stated Longchamp. He went on to say that, “Charity is one of the basic tenants of our faith. There is no better way to experience love and compassion than by helping those in need.”
For more than two decades Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, located in South Hero, has provided a safe, loving place where children from Vermont and New York who have or have had cancer can play, swim, share, and heal. Camp Ta-Kum-Ta is where kids go to reclaim a childhood robbed by cancer.