Knights of Columbus throw annual Car Show and Chili Cook-Off

Grand Knight Jay Fithian in front of his motorcycle at the Knights of Columbus Car Show/Skylar Barti The Signal
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Raising money for charity to give back to the community, the Knights of Columbus hosted the fourth annual Car Show and Chili Cook-Off at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

OLPH’s Knights of Columbus invited the community regardless of religion or race to enjoy a variety of different cars and seven different chilis. The annual two part event is used to raise money for the Knights of Columbus, who give back to the community through various programs.

“We’re very heavily involved with Single Mothers Outreach and St. Vincent de Paul,” said Jay Fithian, grand knight of OLPH Knights of Columbus. “We do a coats for kids locally here, so we gives kids, in the winter, we give 20 to 30 coats to the kids.”

St. Vincent de Paul is a Catholic charity that locally works out of Los Angeles to help the needy become self sufficient by providing financial and emotional support, food, clothing, furniture, appliances, housing and connect them to helpful programs.

Attendees who came for the chili could purchase a punch card that allowed them to try each of the seven chilis competing for two different awards, Best Chili and Best Booth. Once all the chilis were tried, attendees can write on the card their choice for each award and submit it later for their vote.

“We married the two (events) two years ago, we used to do a chili cook-off with all three Santa Clarita parishes,” Fithian explained. “They approached me and wanted to do a chili cook-off with the car show. It seems like that’s the way things are going nowadays, a lot of car shows are doing chili cook-offs. We’re building on it every year. It’s working out well.”

The car show itself start four years ago, when Fithian wanted an event to draw a younger generation into the Knights. When he suggested they do a car show the current leadership told him, “‘If you want it, you start it,’” he said Saturday.

“That was four years go now. I joined the Knights with my dad, but this event is mine,” Fithian said about the history of the event. “The event allows us to give back and fuel the programs we have. The Knights were founded in 1882 and we are all over the world. We’re rebuilding a town that was destroyed by ISIS, were helping supply water to villages in Africa. It’s all about giving.”

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