Spring Knights is a black-tie cocktail fundraiser that supports the Order of Malta’s volunteer works in New York City. From providing food and clothing to the homeless to running flu vaccination clinics and supporting the elderly and disabled, the Order is dedicated to the preservation of human dignity and the care of all those in need.
To inquire about sponsorship opportunities for the 2026 event, kindly email info@stjohncommittee.org.
Beneficiaries
Spring Knights supports the volunteer works of the Order of Malta American Association’s New York City Area. The New York City Area is comprised of 4 of the City’s 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens. It also bridges both the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn & Queens. The Area is served by the Archbishop of New York, Timothy M. Cardinal Dolan, Grand Cross Conventual Chaplain ad honorem of the Order, who is also the Principal Chaplain of the American Association.
Because NYC is the workplace for many Knights and Dames in the Tri-State area, commuting Knights and Dames are always welcome to join us for monthly Masses and volunteer activities. The Area currently has approximately 180 Knights and Dames. Each year in late May, a reception is held for prospective new candidates considering membership in the Order. The NYC Area also has a very active Auxiliary Corps, who are not members but who participate in our works and activities.
To learn more about how to volunteer with the Order of Malta in New York City, kindly email nycaux@orderofmaltaamerican.org. The St. John Committee is delighted to offer Auxiliary access to specially-priced tickets at our fundraisers.
Flu Vaccination Clinics
Conducted in partnership with Malteser International Americas at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and the St. Francis Breadline, the clinics provide flu shots free of charge to homeless and underserved individuals. The NYC Area also provides guests with gift bags, which included winter hats, socks, gloves, and a Dunkin’ Donuts gift card. Thanks to the generosity of guests at Spring Knights, the St. John Committee fully funded 100% of flu vaccination costs in 2024.
“In a city that doesn't stop, on a street teeming with traffic lays a body covered, cocooned against the cold. For the person at the center of that pile their needs are immediate, their future health is not even a second thought. Since before Covid, the Order of Malta has sent a team to administer flu vaccines to our guests on the St. Francis Breadline. What makes this effort so effective is not the vaccine itself but the manner in which the volunteers interact with our guests. People who are not welcome in clinics or pharmacies are suddenly the focus of medical attention for one morning. Being spoken to respectfully, asked questions about themselves and simply not ignored. Thank you Order of Malta, thank you for seeing the marginalized.”
— Patrick Regan
Executive Director
Franciscan Bread for the Poor, Inc
Mother Cabrini Hospital
The New York City Area regularly volunteers at ArchCare at Mother Cabrini Hospital, located at Terence Cardinal Cooke HealthCare Center in East Harlem. Home to children and young adults with serious developmental disabilities and other extraordinary medical needs, Mother Cabrini provides extensive care that residents are not able to get at home or in the community.
Due to their their medical conditions, residents don't have many opportunities to go out. Each year, the Therapeutic Recreation department and the Order of Malta bring the fun, excitement, and balloons galore of the Circus home to the residents of Mother Cabrini. Featuring a live band, Squeaky Clean, and a real clown from the Big Apple Circus, the department and volunteers from the Order play games with the kids such as musical chairs and hot potato. Spring Knights helped fund toys for the residents and Circus decorations in 2025.
Each month, the Area also hosts a sing-a-long, bringing volunteers to sing, dance, laugh, and entertain the disabled residents at the TCC's Mother Cabrini Specialty Hospital. Led by committee member Luisa Majnoni d'Intignano di Poggio Baldovinetti Lee, the sing-a-long welcomes all volunteers who bring an open heart and a smile!
Committee members Jessie Massabni, Elysia Gonzalez, Mercedes de Guardiola, DM and Rainbow the Unicorn, and Patrick Dwyer volunteering at the 2025 Circus.
“What makes events like the Circus unique and beneficial is that it brings the residents, their families, staff, and volunteers together to have meaningful fun. Sensory stimulation is so important for MCH residents and at the event, it's done in a way where they get to be like just any other kid or young person — enjoying the circus with their family and loved ones.”
— Adriana Grecco
Director of Therapeutic Recreation & Volunteer Services
ArchCare at Mother Cabrini Hospital, Terence Cardinal Cooke HealthCare Center
Malta Walks
Started by the St. John Committee, the Order’s Malta Walks hosts volunteers on the third Wednesday of every month to make sandwiches and assemble bags of clothing and essential supplies to distribute to homeless individuals living on the streets during evening hours. Thanks to guests’ support at Spring Knights, the St. John Committee helped feed more than 100 homeless and underserved individuals over the past winter.
“Thanks to your generosity, this winter over 100 homeless and underserved individuals on the streets of Manhattan benefited from two Malta Walks sponsored by Spring Knights. Malta volunteers gathered at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Parish House to pray together and assemble gift bags, including sandwiches, toiletries, and winter hats, socks, and gloves. Afterwards, they walked through the cold of midtown Manhattan to offer some warmth, sustenance, and kind words to those in need. Thank you for your support of Malta Walks!"
— Piotr Jankowski, KM
Area Hospitaller
Mobile Ministry
In 2024, the New York City Area launched a Mobile Ministry due to the support of an NYC Area KM. Thanks to the generosity of guests, the St. John Committee was able to help fund the first-year operational costs, such as providing transportation at Malta Camp USA, delivering St. Patrick’s Day flowers to Calvary Hospital and Providence Rest Nursing Home in the Bronx, and assisting with taking Lourdes Pilgrimage supplies to JFK.
The 15-passenger van supports our hands-on volunteer work across the city, including filling food pantries across Manhattan, helping a team of Sisters move furniture into a new halfway house, and delivering 400 supply bags for our Investiture Weekend Malta Walk. In addition to supporting existing works of the Order, the NYC Area Mobile Ministry team has created a critical partnership with Thrive for Life, a Jesuit run prison ministry non-profit that helps formerly incarcerated individuals reintegrate into society. The van helps bring the formerly incarcerated to spiritual retreats, stock food pantries for families of those affected by justice, and transport construction materials for housing. Fr. Zach Presutti, SJ, Founder of Thrive for Life, and James Greenwood, KM, former Chief of Staff for Thrive for Life, were instrumental in bringing this partnership to fruition. This partnership allows the New York City Area to participate in prison ministry, a void that the Area has been hoping to fill for many years.
The Mobile Ministry team is already lining up exciting additional partnerships, including the St. Francis Breadline and the Sisters of Life, with the goal of helping expand the radius of NYC’s longest-running (90+ year) breadline, moving young and vulnerable mothers into new apartments, and bringing food to the hungry outside Manhattan.
Volunteers with the Mobile Ministry, including committee members and Mobile Ministry Coordinator Michael Smilek, KM and Jessie Massabni.
ArchCare
The Order of Malta regularly volunteers at Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center and Mary Manning Walsh Nursing Home. As part of ArchCare, the Continuing Care Community of the Archdiocese of New York, the medical centers provide short-term rehabilitation, long-term skilled nursing care, subacute rehabilitation, and specialized care for individuals with Huntington's disease, ALS, Alzheimer's disease, and other conditions.
Order of Malta volunteers help transport residents to Mass on Sundays; host Thanksgiving and Christmas parties, bringing cheer to residents, their families, and their caregivers; and run a monthly karaoke night at the Emerald Lounge in Mary Manning Walsh, singing the night away with residents. These social connections are particularly vital for residents, as meaningful interactions can help preserve cognitive function, reduce isolation and depression, and maintain quality of life even as physical or mental abilities decline. In 2025, the Area hosted its first “Lourdes in a Day” program at Mary Manning Walsh, bringing Lourdes to over 100 residents, family members, guests, Dames, Knights, Associates, and volunteers.
Thanks to the generosity of guests at Spring Knights, the St. John Committee has helped support these volunteer efforts with a new karaoke machine and Christmas presents.
