October 19, 2026

Knights Council 10195 Holds Benefit Dinner for Community Survival Center

REGIONAL
Story and photo by Josh Mitchell

WILBRAHAM — Hundreds of parishioners and community members packed inside St. Cecilia parish center, Saturday, Oct. 17 for the annual Community Survival Center Benefit Dinner. The annual benefit dinner is hosted by the St. Cecilia’s Knights of Columbus Council 10195.

“I took over the dinner three years ago. There was a vacancy in the chairman role, so I volunteered to step up and take that position,” said George Reich, the Knights of Columbus dinner chairman.

Just as it has been in previous years, the dinner was Italian themed. Local youth musicians, Elijah Mathias and Ella Gagliaducci, filled the air with Italian music, while attendees filled up on an Italian cuisine, with chicken parmesan being the staple of the night.

“Oh the chicken parm is outstanding. It’s just as good as any restaurant out there,” Reich said.

The kitchen staff spent two days preparing this meal to feed the more than 200 people in attendance. Head of the kitchen and Knight, George Flannigan, said the volunteers were very helpful in preparing and serving.

“We had our usual guys. They are in their 80s and continue to help out. But, we also had a few new guys come in that are much younger. That really helped us out. We also had the student volunteers really step it up this year,” Flannigan said.

While Flannigan does the kitchen work for the Knights, he is also the vice president on the board of directors for the Community Survival Center. All the proceeds of this event go directly to the Survival Center. He said these events are really crucial.

“We (Community Survival Center) are entirely funded by donations. We feed around 30,000 families a year. It’s really an unbelievable thing,” Flannigan said.

Last year, Council 10195 donated $9,000 to the Survival Center from the event alone. Flannigan said that seeing the hard work that this council does year after year is something that he loves to being a part of.

“This is why I joined the Knights. To do stuff like this. It swells my heart when I think about all the work that goes into this, but even more so when we give that check to them. It’s truly special,” Flannigan said.

To learn more about the Knights of Columbus, visit kofc.org