COLUMBIA, S.C. — Since 2013, the Knights of Columbus Fourth-Degree Assembly has been serving a holiday dinner to the troops of Fort Jackson who do not get to go home for the holidays.
The Knights of Columbus is a Catholic service organization dedicated to charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism. Those in the Fourth Degree typically exemplify the fourth pillar of patriotism by supporting troops or being veterans themselves.
On the day after Christmas, the Knights used their fourth-pillar value to serve dinner to more than 100 troops like Anna Baecker at Our Lady of the Hills Catholic Church in Columbia.
"My family is Hispanic, we're from Honduras and we love Christmas so we always do a huge party for Christmas with the whole family... It's sad because I really want to see my parents in person. I FaceTime them but it's not the same thing," Baecker said with a frown.
Despite not being home, a show of community support provided them with that sense of family, complete with spaghetti dinner and new friends.
One of their members, Gerard Couture helped to organize the meal. He says they wanted to give something to those who give their all.
"The main thing is to just get them relaxed and get them away from the Fort and let them eat more of a family meal, and we just hope that they can enjoy the Christmas holidays," Couture explained.
For troops like Stephen Heidelberg who chose not to fly all the way home to California this year, this dinner means a lot.
"This is much nicer and much more vibrant, I'm not just thinking about how miserable I am," Heidelberg said. "I'm getting to just talk with my peers about just random crap and our futures and stuff like that."
The 30 volunteers for the dinner said they were more than happy to serve those who serve our country.