KOVAR - Knights of Columbus of Virginia Assisting Citizens with Mental Retardation

Knights of Columbus of Virginia Assisting Citizen with Mental Retardation

A Virginia Knights of Columbus Charity established in 1971 to provide financial assistance through grants and home loans to tax exempt organizations providing training and assistance to citizens with intellectual disabilities

This years goal is $650,000

This years major KOVAR drive will be April 19-22, 2007. The 2007 KOVAR book will be located at this site no later than Jan 1, 2007 to give you all the critical information to help you run a successful drive.

Vehicle Donation Program is now Available! Please use the link below to find more information on donating your vehicle.

KOVAR 2007 Honoree

Tony DiGregorio, PGK

BIOGRAPHY:

Anthony J. (Tony) Di Gregorio, CPP (Certified Protection Professional)
Principal Technical Advisor Applied Research Associates, Inc.

Tony Di Gregorio and his family came to the Northern Virginia area in 1981 as a Colonel in the US Army Military Police. Initially assigned to the Military Traffic Management Command he attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1982-83 and became the Chief Security and Law Enforcement for the US Army Corps of Engineers. He retired from the US Army in 1987 after 28 years of continuous service. He subsequently works as a security consultant working with architects and engineers to provide security in building design. His office is in Alexandria Virginia and he provides services nationwide.

Tony has always been involved with service organizations during his military service and since his retirement. Organizations have included the Lions, Kiwanis, Optimists, and of course the Knights of Columbus. Professional affiliations have included the International Association Chiefs of Police, and ASIS International, the professional society for security professionals. Some of these associations began in his college years at Temple University in Philadelphia PA.

He was active in founding the St Mary of Sorrows Knights of Columbus Council in Fairfax Station in 1984, serving as the founding Corresponding Secretary and subsequently Grand Knight in 1988. His service extended to two terms as a District Deputy, responsible for five other councils in Northern Virginia. As District Deputy, all five of his councils were Star Councils in his first year. In his second year, he was Founding District Deputy of George Mason University Council. His major activity with the Knights is service on the Board of Directors of KOVAR, the major fund raising activity in the Virginia Jurisdiction providing services and charity to organizations serving persons with intellectual disabilities in Virginia. During his twelve years of service on the Board of Directors, he was Vice President of Fund Raising for two years and President of the Board of Directors for five years. Re-elected for a fifth term on the Board, he resigned his position to assume duties as the Executive Director of the Endowment Fund formation committee for the KOVAR Board of Directors. He continues in this effort today.

He is supported in these activities by his wife of forty years Mary, with whom he resides in the Middleridge subdivision in Fairfax Virginia. They both enjoy the families of their two daughters Deanna and Amy who reside with their husbands and our six grandchildren in Broadlands and Bristow Virginia.

HONOREE STATEMENT:

Being named the Honoree of the KOVAR Fund Drive for 2006-07 is a deeply humbling experience for me. Given the giants of our order who preceded me in this honor, I am truly unworthy. I count my service of twelve years on the KOVAR Board as the most personally rewarding of my service in the Knights of Columbus. The Board is truly doing God’s work as stewards of the millions of dollars you have raised and will continue to raise for “God’s Special People”. I thank them for the privilege of having served as their President for four years.

“…the basic principle of our Order is Charity, the greatest of all virtues, and the crowning glory of a Christian life.” The funds we give to organizations serving persons with intellectual disabilities are well spent. But there are thousands of God’s Special People in Virginia who may be denied their current quality of life should their parents or other caregivers become unable to continue caring for them in their own home. The KOVAR Board hopes to address this critical need by establishing a vehicle to increase the number of available Group Homes. In the near future, the Board will present to the State Officers and the KOVAR Corporation members a business plan for their consideration. If approved by the KOVAR Corporation members, the Board would initiate a fund drive to establish an Endowment for Group Homes. Currently, I am charged by the Board to develop the business plan and working to fill the requirements of establishing the fund.

Our State Deputy has challenged us to “be not afraid” to exemplify that “…greatest of all virtues….” I ask for your prayerful support that our current fund drive for KOVAR will be a great success. I further ask for your prayers that KOVAR will successfully fulfill the dream of providing group homes for all those in need in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I will pray for all of you to be successful in your efforts to help all of God’s Special people and ask you to pray for the caregivers who provide their care.

Vivat Jesus!

Anthony J. Di Gregorio, PGK