Knights deliver new cribs to mothers in need in northern Virginia

By Cecilia Engbert

6/27/2024

Source

Joe Jewell, past grand knight of Holy Spirit Council 11922 in Annandale, Virginia, and his son, Michael, got up early June 15, packed their vehicle with four baby cribs and mattresses and hit the road. They were joining more than 40 volunteers, including many Knights, to deliver cribs to more than 100 mothers in need across the region.

The Jewells’ first delivery was to a young woman expecting a baby girl soon. Brisa Sifuentes met them at the door with a big smile.

“It was exciting, seeing the crib come through the door,” Sifuentes said. “I’m excited and happy because we haven’t been able to buy anything yet, so it’s a start and it’s a blessing.”

Sifuentes plans to name her baby Skyler — “Sky” for short. “She already has her nickname,” she laughed. “I’m really thankful for this crib. When she grows up, I can tell her about this, and hopefully I’m able to show her who helped her out.”

The crib was a gift from Project Manger, a nonprofit that supplies cribs and bedding to mothers facing financial difficulties or crisis pregnancies. It began in 2008 as an initiative of A Woman’s Choice, a local pregnancy resource center, before becoming a separate organization in 2022. Knights in northern Virginia have been deeply involved from its earliest days.

Each year, Project Manger buys hundreds of new cribs — $150-165 each — with fundraising help from several K of C councils. Two major distributions take place, one on Father’s Day weekend in June and another during the Christmas season. Volunteers, primarily Knights, gather at A Woman’s Choice, load their vehicles with cribs, mattresses and bedding, and travel in pairs to each client’s home until every delivery has been made.

“Being able to do in-person deliveries is a big motivator for me,” said Jewell, who serves on Project Manger’s board of directors and has helped with deliveries for about a decade. “We’ve seen people sleeping on the floor, kids having to sleep on the floor themselves. Just the look on their faces when they see us coming in — to get help in those situations really makes a difference.”

It was a difficult living situation that first inspired Project Manger. Dolores Wisecarver, executive director of A Woman’s Choice at the time, found out a client had had an abortion because she didn’t have anywhere for her second baby to sleep.

Determined that no client would ever make that decision again, Wisecarver put an ad in all the local parish bulletins asking for donations to supply baby cribs to expectant mothers who could not afford them. Denny D’Alelio, a past grand knight of Council 11922, responded immediately and became the powerhouse behind the operation.

“In the beginning, it was just going to be a small project,” said Wisecarver, who retired from her role as director of A Woman’s Choice in 2017 and now serves on the board of directors for both A Women’s Choice and Project Manger. “But the Knights made it grow; they did all the fundraising. Denny took this project and ran with it.”

D’Alelio involved not only his own council but several other local councils as well. In its first year, Project Manger supplied around 25 cribs to families in need during the Christmas season.

“It was Christmas time, so I had this idea to ‘bring a crib to baby Jesus,’” said Wisecarver, explaining the name of the organization.

Before D’Alelio died in 2016, he made sure Project Manger would continue without him, working with Wisecarver to establish a board of directors, mostly Knights, to manage the operation.

“Without the Knights, there wouldn’t be this program at all,” Wisecarver said. “They continue to be involved and the program has taken off.”

Since 2009, Project Manger had delivered more than 2,700 cribs, and Wisecarver expects to deliver around 300 more this year. The program now assists clients of about 20 pregnancy resource centers in northern Virginia, in addition to A Woman’s Choice.

“People are very generous with this program. There’s something about donating cribs that people like,” Wisecarver said. “It’s a very specific mission.”

For Bill Baer, a member of Msgr. Thomas P. Scannell Council 14523 in Annandale, delivering cribs is a win-win situation.

“We get a lot out of it and so do the people who receive the cribs,” said Baer, who has volunteered with Project Manger for several years alongside fellow Knights. “It’s just a small way to let people know that we want to help them greet this baby into the world — a token that will hopefully be useful but also an expression of gratitude for another baby. Because it’s always wonderful whenever a child is born.”

Building a culture of life is a long-term process that will take more than a change in law, Jewell said, and Project Manger is part of that effort

“It demonstrates that we really care about the women and children involved,” he said. “Showing that there are people who care about women in crisis pregnancies is the first step in changing hearts and minds.”

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CECILIA ENGBERT is a content producer for the Knights of Colubua communications department.