Orangeville Knights are family's 'little angels'
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic Register
The Flynn family needed help. They were paying $1,000 every month for bariatric diapers for their daughter Jennifer who has a rare chromosome disorder, making her one of 40 such cases in the world. So Julie Flynn, Jennifer’s mother, asked for help — and she received. “My husband has had to give up his job to take care of her,” said Flynn, who lives in Orangeville, Ont. “We’re a one-income family and we’re paying $1,000 every month for diapers. And we were thinking and in desperation I wrote to every service club in the Orangeville area. The Knights of Columbus responded and it just went from there.”
Jennifer, 14, has Trysomy 12p with Pallister Killian Syndrome. Her lifespan is unknown. And there is not a lot that the medical world can tell them about her disability, said Flynn. Jennifer’s disability also creates a great deal of underlying health issues. She is cognitively between the ages of two and four, has choking issues, asthma, reverse A stigmatism (which means she has no depth perception), sleeps on a medical mattress in their apartment and could not walk until the age of 10. But her weight, because of her chromosome disorder, is overtaking and affecting her hip, said Flynn, so they are now scrambling to get her back into a wheelchair.
Her letter struck a chord with the Orangeville Knights of Columbus council, who then contacted the local Lions Club. Together, the two organizations have agreed to help the Flynns in their time of need.
The Knights of Columbus are a fraternal men’s organization that does works of charity and charitable giving through a variety of community-based fundraising events.
“Right now, it’s on an ongoing basis and it started about six months ago,” said Richard Marleau, grand knight of the council in Orangeville, on helping the Flynns. “We, the Knights of Columbus, give $450 per month and the Lions Club is matching that amount. So we’re giving $900 between the two of us every month.” He said the council hopes to help the family for as long as they can make it work.
“At this point, we have a full year covered,” Marleau said.
“They took us under their wing and have been paying for the diapers,” said Flynn. “It’s made a huge difference for us. I keep saying to them they’re like little angels.”
But it’s not just the Knights, said Steve White, chair of the charity committee for the Orangeville-based council. “The supplier is a company called Medical Mart, and they’re in Mississauga,” said White. “And the manufacturers have given us a 15-per-cent discount”
For about the last three years, the council has shifted its focus to giving to more local concerns, with special attention on individuals and individual families, said White.
“There’s lots of good charities out there but we try to focus more on people,” he said. When the family found out their plea was being answered, Flynn said they started crying.
“It was a godsend. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank them for going the extra mile for us.”
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