Please welcome to our council three new brothers who completed their Major Degree, hosted by John F. Kennedy Council #5460 at St. Malachy, on March 10th Congratulations Joshua Grifka, Al Gulick and Joe Kish.
With the start of April, we begin the last quarter of the fraternal year. People have come up to me asking, “So you must be glad to be on the downhill run of your Grand Knight term.” While we only have three months left in this fraternal year, I don’t see it as a “downhill” or “wrapping-up” time. Rather, I see the images of spring and the renewal found in the rising of the Lord at Easter as a way to look at how we should approach these last few months. We need to take the energy found in the spirit of renewal and dedicate ourselves to the Council’s work now, just as much as we did in the beginning of the fraternal year.
At the time of this article being written we have had five very successful fish fry’s. We served roughly 2300+ dinners, made a lot of new friends and continued the good work that Fr. Michael J McGivney started on March 29, 1882. Thank you to all of you and your families and friends who supported our efforts and enjoyed the meals. Our Fish Fry helps to fund all our council activities, including the needs of our Church, needy families, Special Olympics, Special Needs, Coats for Kids, Holy Cross Children Services, Youth Free Throw Contest, Tootsie Roll Drive, The Food Pantry and many, many more causes we are involved in.
Our annual Open House Pot Luck Dinner and Awards Night was March 12th. We had a nice turn-out and hopefully everyone had enough to eat and drink! There was so much wonderful and delicious food it was hard to decide on what to have. We were honored to have Regional New Council Development North Detroit Director - Charlie McCuen and his wife Pamela join us for the evening. He inspired us with his words of the good the Knights of Columbus do in our community. Also Debbie Jackson from St. Vincent DePaul was in attendance speaking to us of the works that St. Vincent DePaul continues to do through Michigan. Our council made a donation to St. Vincent DePaul from the proceeds of our last pancake breakfast to further the great works of St. Vincent DePaul.
On display was a 32” TV that will be donated by our council, to be included as part of the proceeds that will go to Holy Cross Children’s Services and The Knights of Columbus Refugee Relief Fund raffle during the annual State Convention on Mackinac Island in May. Special thanks to Chris Gapczynski, our newsletter editor, for making this newsletter happen each month. I know that she doesn't always get all the articles in an orderly and timely fashion. Yet she still manages to compile everything, adds a few personal touches, and makes it all look very professional. To thank Chris for all her hard work we gave her a monetary donation. Chris, we hope you can put our small token of appreciation to good use.
Congratulations to our 6 poster contest winners who were invited to the dinner with their families to receive their prize for the hard work which showed in their entries.
Age 5-7: 1st place Ava DiMaggio, 2nd place Matthew Wlazlik and 3rd place Emily Yurgalonis Age 8-10: 1st place Vivian Dudley and 2nd place Sophea Guimond Age 11-14: 1st place Nicholas Henderson
Congratulations to the following gentlemen on receiving the Michigan Shining Armor Award this year:
Ralph Colosimo, Ted Czarny, Jeff Gapczynski, James Grifka, Dale Jacks, Mike Hartel, Art Krygowski, Hank Leflere
Brothers Clarence Gajewski, Joseph Marheineke, Giovan Candela and Rev. Joseph Hund were each presented with a special recognition Lifetime Achievement award for their outstanding service and dedication to our council and the Knights of Columbus. Congratulations gentlemen!
There were two awards which may be the most prestigious awards to be given out. They are the Knight of the Year and Family of the Year. The officers of our council select these two winners based on the Knight and Family of the Month recipients from the previous twelve months.
This first award is for the Knight of the Year for 2017-2018. This Brother Knight first Joined the Order in 2013. He is very active and helps run the kitchen at our fish fry’s. He also helps at the pancake breakfasts. He currently serves the council as the Outside Guard.
Knight of the Year 2017-2018 – Gerry Vento.
The second award is for the Family of the Year for 2017 - 2018 This brother Knight joined the order just 6 years ago and has made a huge impact on this council. He participates in the Trunk or Treat, Adopt a Highway cleanup, volunteers at the Texas Hold'em events, pancake breakfast, and our fish fries. In his spare time, he helps put up the tent when it is needed in between fishing. He and his wife have been married for a long time. He currently holds the position of Family Director.
Family of the Year 2016 – 2017 - Richard and Patricia Okerhjelm.
Saturday March 17th was our council’s Corporate Communion at the 4:00 pm Mass. From what I was told (as I could not attend), there were three rows of our Knights and their families, and as always, a nice showing of the Color Corps. Thank you to all that attended, and thank you to Deputy Grand Knight Mike Hartel for stepping in for me.
Thank you to those who helped either March 10th and 11th or March 17th and 18th for taking ham and kielbasa orders for Easter or passing out the delicious samples. Jerry Hund is once again the chairperson for this event. He and Ray Coughlin are normally here both weekends and put in many combined hours. Thank you also to Ted Czarny and all the helpers (I don’t have the names of at this time) for spending the afternoon here at St. Paul’s filling and passing out the orders. Also a special Thank You to Deacon Marc for blessing the food for us. There were over 100 orders placed this year and we hope you all enjoyed your feasts!
Our Annual Easter Egg Hunt was Sunday March 18th. There were about 100 of our St. Paul children here to hunt for candy filled Easter eggs, get their picture with the Easter Bunny (who by the way is a 4th degree Knight), and pick a prize from the prize table. A special thank you to Lorri Coughlin for arranging to have helpers stuff the eggs during the fish fry so we could put this event on for the children of our parish. Thank you to all the egg stuffers...there must have been over a dozen in the pantry working so diligently getting all that candy stuffed in a small egg. Also, thank you to Rich Miller for MC’ing this event. Thank you to all the helpers who hid eggs and watched the children outside to keep them safe.
The next District Corporate Communion Mass is at SS John & Paul Council #16630 7777 28 Mile Road - Washington MI – 48094. April 8th at 11:30am Mass. Please attend as this event id to support our newest council in District 24.
Knights of Columbus Day of the Unborn Child is April 9, 2018. We ask that you keep the unborn in your prayers. Normally held on March 25, to coincide with the feast of the Annunciation, this year the Day of the Unborn Child will be held on Monday, April 9. Why the change in date? This year Palm Sunday falls on March 25, so the Annunciation gets moved to April 9. Be sure to mark your calendar with the new date!
At our April 9th meeting, we will have our first round of officer nominations. The second round of nominations and elections will take place at our May meeting. As you all know, this is a very important process, so please consider carefully who you would like to see in the leadership positions of your council. Remember also, that self-nomination is perfectly acceptable, as long as the nominee is a Third Degree member.
Our May 7th to 10th Texas Hold'em fund raiser is in need of volunteers to work (please see the signup sheet on the table after the April meeting). We could also use one alternate for each day in case someone is unable to work the shift they signed up for. Thank you to the Knights who have already signed up to help with this fundraiser and to Brother Henry Leflere who heads up these events. Keep in mind this is one event that does not require the volunteers to have taken the Protecting Gods Children class.
Many people have been asking for the larger K of C lapel pins. We have them available for purchase. The cost is $5.00 each. Anyone interested can get one from me at next month’s meeting.
Do you have SafeServe Certification? If you do, please send me a copy of your certificate so we can have this on file for our records. If it is expired, still send it to me and we will work on getting you recertified. My E-mail gk11689@mikofc.org
One final thought from Deacon Mike Houghton (Brother Knight) from St. John Vianney: For whatever reason, God has chosen to bestow the task of evangelizing to us who are his disciples. He could have done it much faster and better without us, but he goes through us because of his great love for us. Let those of us who are his disciples never shy away from this task.
Vivat Jesus Art Krygowski Grand Knight
