For 30 years, the Knights of Columbus Notre Dame Council #10514 in Flagler Beach has been a constant for some of Flagler Beach’s senior community members.
The council, located at the Santa Maria Del Mar Catholic Church, has been a present force in the Flagler Beach and surrounding communities since the 1990s. Knights members Tim Postemski and fellow John Check have spent the last several years working the bingo games, which are held every Tuesday at the Santa Maria Del Mar Parish Hall beginning at 10:30 a.m.
“For some of these folks, it’s the only thing they look forward to, getting out for the day,” Postemski said.
Check said the bingo players have become “like a big family.” People come from all over to the weekly games, he said, from St. Augustine, DeLand to Daytona Shores. Check said it feels good to see the camaraderie among the crowd.
Every year, the bingo games shut down from May to August to make room for other events, and, he said, every year the players are eager to return.
“We’ve had people come here and say, ‘I couldn’t wait for you to reopen. I look forward to it,” he said. “[Some] get out of the house once a week, and they come here.”
Grand Knight Bryan Perszyk said the Knights of Columbus is a Catholic men’s organization that supports charitable initiatives in local communities. The Flagler Beach council is very active in the community, he said.
“Most of us are looking for a way to give back,” Persyzk said, “We feel blessed, you know? I do. It’s just a way to give back.”
According to their website, the Council supports a wide range of charitable and volunteer outreach programs from scholarships, fundraiser cookouts, and campaigns and programs to support new mothers and crisis pregnancy centers. The group recently fundraised and purchased the Save Haven Baby Box that was recently installed at a Palm Coast fire station.
The weekly bingo event is one way the group manages to raise funding for its charitable programs, but, Postemski said, it’s more than that, too. Over the years the bingo game has become a place for these people to connect to each other and find community and friendship.
Those who attend pay $15 for a book of bingo cards, and lunch is provided as well – by the same Knights of Columbus members that serve the Monday night dinners at Santa Maria Del Mar.
Bingo player Lillian Loudermilk said she’s been going to bingo for 50 years and has “never seen men work as hard as they do here.”
“These guys are so exceptional,” she said. “They treat us like we are queens.”
For some of the bingo attendees, she said, the bingo event is their life and have come to rely on the Knights of Columbus weekly bingo games.
“Especially for the older women that don’t have much to do,” she said. “They have a place to come to, and they’re loved and taken care of here.”
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