Santa Fe Council 2978 is a brotherhood of over 200 Catholic men serving St. Bridget of Sweden Parish and the Cheshire community. Founded in 1946, our Council puts faith into action: we raise money through events the whole parish enjoys, and we give it away to students, families and neighbors in need. Here is what that looked like over the past two fraternal years.
We Grew
Our Council earned Star Council and Double Star Council recognition in 2024-2025, then did it again in 2025-2026, doubling our new-member goals both years. We reached 200 members in early 2026, led the state in the fall 2025 membership drive, won the Columbian Award and the McGivney Award, and were named a top-five council in Connecticut for recruitment. Fr. Romans recognized the Council as one of the parish’s most active ministries.
We Raise
Our fundraisers are parish traditions. The Super Bowl Wings Grab n’ Go sells 250 orders of wings and homemade brownies every February and netted over $1,300 in 2025 and over $1,450 in 2026 for our scholarship fund. Pancake breakfasts with our famous egg casseroles, Easter flower sales on Palm Sunday, Father’s Day pies from Oronoque Farms, Keep Christ in Christmas magnets, and Tootsie Roll drives outside Cheshire Wine and Spirits each New Year’s Eve together raised thousands more. In two years our events generated roughly $10,000 in net proceeds, all of it given back to the community.
We Give
Over the past two years the Council donated more than $20,000 to causes including:
Education. $2,250 in scholarships every year, one to a college student and one to a high school student, plus prizes for the Christmas poster and essay contests and gifts to the St. Bridget School golf tournament.
Life and family. Gifts to Carolyn’s Place, the Hope Pregnancy Center and an ultrasound machine fund; buses to the March for Life; support for two seminarians (Anthony Caruso and Jake White) on their road to the priesthood.
Neighbors in need. More than $1,100 each year to the Cheshire Challengers and the ReRead Book Store from our Tootsie Roll drives; $500 to the Cheshire Food Pantry in memory of Brother John Higgins; Coats for Kids distributions every Thanksgiving weekend; and wheelchairs funded through parish-wide Wheelchair Sunday collections.
Disaster relief. $1,000 to the Diocese of Charlotte after the 2024 hurricanes and $2,800 collected for victims of the California fires.
Youth. $1,500 to the parish Youth Mission trips to Pennsylvania and support for Cub Scout Pack 114.
We Serve
Knights are the hands behind parish life: grilling at the Parish Picnic, running blood drives, directing parking for Confirmation at the Cathedral, hosting Soul Food evenings, providing refreshments for CCD family classes, judging the school Christmas card contest, helping Santa visit after Christmas Masses, and even driving a fellow parishioner to chemotherapy. We march in the Memorial Day Parade, walk in the Corpus Christi procession, host the Silver Rose devotion, and put on the St. Patrick’s Day / St. Joseph’s Day Dinner Dance that brings the parish together every March.
Join Us
If you are a Catholic man looking to grow in faith, meet great friends and make a difference in Cheshire, we would love to have you. Talk to any Knight after Mass (look for the blue polos and red shirts) or come to a monthly meeting, held the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m.