The Tara Knights Society held their annual event Operation Christmas Child on Nov. 16.

The members of the Tara Knights Society gathered in the Endzone at the LaPenta Student Union. While Christmas music played over the speakers, they folded and filled shoe boxes with small toys such as coloring books, crayons, headbands, socks, notebooks and bouncy balls.

These toys came from donations from the members of Tara Knights. They were able to put together 63 boxes that night, and they were still trying to fill more at the time this article was written.

Operation Christmas Child is a program that is sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian relief organization that helps people in countries around the world. The boxes made at the Tara Knights event will be sent to underprivileged children all over the world, “so they have something to open on Christmas morning” said senior John Petrullo.

The Tara Knights are the oldest organization at Iona. It started as students acting as the school’s janitors, back before there was a Facilities department here. They are now a group that focuses on community service, particularly unrecognized service, and random acts of kindness. “It’s not as secret as people think” said senior Gianna Bove.

Part of the reason for the reputation for secrecy may come from the membership requirements. Someone who wants to join cannot just sign up; they have to go through a nomination process.

The Tara Knights also take on larger projects. They are currently raising money to build a water tower in Hamilton, a city in Sierra Leone, Africa. The Christian Brothers have members there and are directing that end of the initiative. The Tara Knights have been working on this project for a few years now and hope to have enough money for it by the end of this year. The group also sponsors Hands Around Iona, where they plan to announce how much money has been raised for the Hamilton Water Tower. Once the water tower project is finished, the Tara Knights will take on another major venture.