MILTON, Vt. — When the call goes out to help children who are seriously ill, some groups step in like good Samaritans. Sometimes their ways go unnoticed. Sometimes they unexpectedly crystallize a community.

Not far from the Canadian border in the little town of Milton, Vt., the local Knights of Columbus council learned that 2-year-old Riley Orr needed heart surgery in Boston in late December. Since the boy's mother didn't have medical insurance, the council wanted to raise money for medical expenses.

“We decided it was better doing a special event for him than writing a check,” said past Grand Knight Tom Curran, who headed the project. A pancake breakfast brought in $500 for Riley's expenses and joined Knights and townspeople together for a help-thy-neighbor cause.

“We're a small council and the number of people to help was pretty amazing,” said Paul Garrow, the current Grand Knight. Twenty-eight Knights and six Squires, the order's teen branch, put together the January breakfast that drew 150 people from the small town.

Little Riley was able to attend the breakfast with his mother, Christine.

“Everybody was thrilled. He's just a loveable kid,” said Curran, who saw two other important results that day.

“The price was by donation only,” he said. “People dig a little deeper when they know it's for a specific cause rather than a general charity. It's more personalized. And the event gave everyone the chance to see what the Knights are all about.”

Riley's mother mentioned the event helped her spiritually, too.

“It let me know there are people out there who care,” Christine Orr said, “and God's out there looking over us.”

Another Case

Some help becomes the proverbial mustard seed, as happened south of Baton Rouge, La., when the Knights council in White Castle, La., wanted to assist 7-year-old Brant Theriot and his family. They ended up drawing two entire towns together.

“It started out with a conversation in a filling station,” according to Grand Knight Joseph Richard, when the Knights became aware of Brant's tremendous medical costs. One breathing medication alone costs $1,200 monthly.

Brant suffers from Leigh's syndrome, a terminal mitochondreal disorder with no cure or treatment and usually fatal by age 7. “You just try to control the symptoms as much as you can and pray for the best,” explained his mother, Teisha, a registered nurse on leave to care for him.

Brant suffers from nausea and dizziness on a daily basis and is fed through a tube. He's gone into cardiac arrest twice.

“He knows he suffers a lot and is not like the rest of the kids,” his mother explained. Yet he goes to school when he can and likes to play with other kids.

The Theriot family hadn't asked for help, but Richard said fellow Knight Chad Blanchard talked them into letting them put on a simple spaghetti luncheon and small raffle on Jan. 11. Things snowballed from there.

The council in neighboring Donaldsonville, the Knights' Ladies Auxiliary and a local St. Joseph Altar Society joined in. Word went into church bulletins, newspapers, on TV. Next, loads of prizes poured in for the raffle — and auction and bake sale.

“We had thousands of cakes and pies donated,” Richard said.

On Jan. 11, thousands of people turned out, coming from as far away as New Orleans, Texas and Alabama. From Ascension Catholic School in Donaldsonville, the Knights, the auxiliary and the altar society cooked and sold 4,000 spaghetti dinners. Raffle winners donated their prizes back to the auction.

From two small communities totaling fewer than 8,000 people, the Knights were able to hand the Theriots $112,000. Later, a New Yorker sent $300 after seeing Brant's story on a website (www. helpbrant.com), and students in White Castle's Ascension Catholic School raised $3,500 on one “casual dress” day.

“I always learned to help people in need, to help the community, with the Knights,” Richard said. “But I was never prepared for this.”

Spiritual Effects

Neither was Larry Laborde, Grand Knight of the Donaldsonville council.

“Just to hear Brant's dad talk about what this meant to his family and all the friends Brant has made through his illness and see all the prayers that went to him dealing with this was very heartwarming,” he said.

In fact, Father Jules Brunet, the Theriots' pastor at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church, didn't see people bragging about how much money was made.

“It wasn't the end goal,” he said. “They're satisfied at the success of helping Brant.”

Father Brunet noticed change in the community. “The very love of God and the sense of being part of each other just poured out of them. In the spiritual bonding of people, the impact was visible,” he said.

He saw people “come to a sense of an acceptance of the situation of life that is given to them in God's plan — not just the family but everyone. … By reaching out and helping the family to live the life that God has given them, they [the people] have been strengthened in faith and trust in God.”

Support didn't stop Jan. 11. The Knights try to visit with Brant's father, Morty, and watch Brant if Teisha has to go on an errand.

“The biggest thing is prayer — we keep praying for him,” Richard added.

“[Brant] thanks God for his good days,” Teisha Theriot said. “Bad days he prays to God to let it pass, and if it can't pass, he offers his sufferings up for people who need it.”

“He goes through life with a very good disposition,” she continued. “I always tell him there's a reason God is allowing this to happen to you — you might be one of the people to change the world.”

Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.