Thursday, March 26, 2020

The Knight's Shield - April 2020

Well the COVID-19 pandemic has captured the attention of the whole world. In this unprecedented time, many of our scheduled meetings and events have been cancelled for the safety of our members and families. The latest event is our annual MI (Tootsie Roll) Drive which is being rescheduled to the fall. This is a very fluid situation. Please note that due to the Governor’s Stay-at- Home Order, effective through April 13th, our General Meeting on 4/13 at JFK is effectively cancelled. However, there is a possibility we may try to hold an online meeting instead. We will reschedule or cancel additional events and meetings as needed when they get closer on the calendar. That being said, don’t panic but remain vigilant and safe.

Easter will still arrive on April 12! This year will be a much more private event with your Lord and Savior. Wishing each of you a Happy Easter.

FYI, Church announced that they will be streaming a Mass online. The church will be open daily Monday through Thursday from 8:30 am to 1:00 pm for personal prayer. The parish office is closed. See the church website for more information. Since the office is closed, no hard copies of this newsletter will be mailed.

Next time you visit church, you will see that the construction has continued. The interior finish work is well under way. The main entrance canopy copper roof and fascia is just about complete. However, much work remains. Once the new areas are ready, the pantry will begin to move out of the social hall and into the new space. Until then, the use of our church social hall will not be available. We are currently estimating we will not be able to have any events in our social hall until after Memorial Day. So as a reminder, our next scheduled General Meeting is May 11 at the JFK Council Hall located on 33320 Kelly Road. Our Planning Meeting will remain in the conference room at SPOT. As noted above, we may hold meetings online instead.

Wanted to let everyone know that our council has contacted all of our senior Knights and widows who are at least 80 years young to check how they are doing. Fortunately, all were doing well and were having their needs being taken care of.

Thank you to Tom Gray, Ken Krause, Kevin Kennedy, Art Krygowski, Ron Marrese, Hank Leflere, Phil Kwasny, and Rob Tusset who helped move our K of C storage cabinets on Saturday 3/21 so the contractor can epoxy the old pantry floor. We will need to move the cabinets again, once it is determined where they can be placed after construction winds down.

Hopefully, many of you were able to attend at least one of the Parish Mission talks held at SPOT. Father Alex was a very good speaker. Was a good way to help begin our 2020 Lenten season. Thank you to Paul Parker, Stan Labuda, Hank Leflere, Vince Cusumano and Ron Marrese for the Statue of Mary procession which the Knights did each evening!

Please provide your support for our new Financial Secretary, George Sakorafos! Thank you to our outgoing FS Ray Ignatowski for your 12 years of service! It is not too soon to begin planning for our spring officer elections. Please contact the DGK or GK to discuss your interests, and we can also advise on some of the opportunities for leadership with YOUR council.

In regards to the spring officer election, here is an outline of the basic officer election process.

These are the officers we nominate and then elect: Grand Knight, Deputy Grand Knight, Chancellor, Recorder, Treasurer, Warden, Inside Guard, Outside Guard, Advocate and Trustee.

In April we simply collect nominations for each officer position. An officer position nomination must be a Third Degree Knight. A Knight can be nominated for more than one position. However, a Knight can only hold one elected officer position at one time. A Knight can self nominate. You do not need to attend a meeting to nominate. A member can submit a nomination by phone or email to any current officer or director. The officer/director should advise the GK of the nomination received. Nominations received by April 13 will be listed in the May Knights Shield. Nominations can also be made prior to the May meeting as noted above and of course at the May meeting until nominations are closed on the floor and the officer is elected.

As a reminder, we only elect officers. Directors are appointed.

Please see the new exemplification degree program article in the newsletter. If we have 4pm Mass on Saturday 4/18 we plan to still have the exemplification.

Do not forget to sell your K of C 2020 State Raffle Tickets. For every one you sell, $1 comes back to our council! Good luck to all. FYI, the raffle still will take place. However, the raffle party has been cancelled.

At this time, we still have scheduled Road Clean-up on Saturday 5/2, 8am and Special Olympics on Wednesday 5/13, 8am at Andreas for breakfast. See articles for more information.

Faith In Action (Columbian Award) Update: • 12 Programs submitted to date. Many of our activities and donations we participate in throughout the year are part of this FIA program. • We have 3 Programs remaining for this calendar year: RSVP or Vocations/Food for Families/Special Olympics. • If we meet our membership and insurance goals we will also receive Star council which is an annual goal for all councils nationwide.

We are returning to Lakeport State Park this summer for our third annual council camping trip. You can make your reservations now! The park campsites are filling up! Non-campers are also welcome to our pot luck dinner. See the article for more information.

Once we resume Masses at church, please consider signing up to receive the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The list is very short. We need some more families to sign up. Most importantly, our prayers are needed to support vocations! Please note that this is open to all families of the parish. Mention that to the people you sit next to at church. The binder is located in the church gathering space. Thank you!

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Vivat Jesus, Mike Hartel

ALL ARE WELCOME -- K OF C CHRISMAS PARTY