Welcome to 2025 (I can’t believe I just said that).
This month’s message has to start with another excellent exemplification conducted at our December General meeting. (4) New Knights entered our council Mike Lauretti, Marvin Lehman, Frank Lucido and Robert Haapasaari. These gentlemen have in some cases already contributed to the works of our council and will continue to foster the work Knights do in our local communities and charities. Thanks go out to George Loewen, Mike Hartel, Phil Mularski, Gary Skarb and Joe Phillips for doing such a great job with the exemplification ceremony.
An early donation of Coats for Capuchin center came in and we’d like to thank Sandra Weitzel for the generous donation of (90) coats. Rob Amsler assisted me in bringing the coats down to Brother Rob at the Capuchin center and he was thrilled to get them as the weather had gotten cold and they were in need of them. In addition, Sandra provided a gift of $76 from coat sales out of her garage to the Knights which will be put into the Rosary Bracelet fund (charity yet to be identified).
The Respect Life Baby Bottle drive for the Compassion Pregnancy center of Mt Clements raised over $11,000. Wow. Our parishioners are terrific! Thanks to all that contributed and in particular, Mary Fiorini and Ray Coughlin for their work over the several weeks this happened. Thanks also to Lori Coughlin, Andrea Ursini, Sheri and Ted Czarny who helped pack up coins (which there were many).
It was nice to see so many Knights show up for the Christmas Lights installation. Turned out to be a nice day (it wasn’t raining) and all got done in two and a half hours. The new LED lights look great. Come back out and assist on January 6th to bring them back down and package them up. Don’t worry, you’ll get a notice.
Rob Tusset and Jeff Gapczynski delivered (48) KC the Teddy Bears to Henry Ford hospital for sick children. It’s a great program that brings more than a smile to the children, it gives them a friend to get thru there healing process.
Charity Poker was conducted over at the new Paradise Banquet Hall (near the Target Store just off of Hall road) the week prior to Thanksgiving. This program contributes greatly to our Charity funds and is essential to do twice a year. Thanks to Mike Hartel and his hard work organizing the event and all those that spent (8) hours a day there over the 4 days of the event. As Mike moves on to the west side, we are in need of a new Director for this program to handle the paperwork submission to the state, organize the crew and start out each of the (4) days with cash in hand, etc. Please contact Mike or myself if you are interested.
Christmas Meat sales did well once again this year. Thanks to Jerry Hund, Ray Coughlin, Ted Czarny and team that received the orders, packed the orders and distributed them out to our customers. The program has raised more than $17K for our local charities since it’s inception.
And lastly, I hope you had a chance to bring out your kids / grandkids to the “Cookies with Santa” program sponsored by the Men’s group and supported by the Knights. There were 80+ attendees this year. They were entertained by Christmas Magic, watched Santa get delivered by the Fire Department, sang Christmas carols with Santa and the Elves. The kids learned more about Jesus’s birthday, the evolution of a Saint Nicholas and had a blast decorating cookies and having pictures with Santa. If you’ve not yet had an opportunity to join us for this terrific event, plan on it next year.
One last note. Our Michigan State Deputy Regional Representative (SDRR) Paul Thorn, joined us for the December General meeting and presented the Council an Award for having been selected the east side Council of the month! It’s nice to see that our Council’s work is being recognized across the state. Congratulations all!
Looking forward to a fruitful and joyous new year of community programs and charitable contributions! And, we couldn’t have a better group of men and women to do it with!
God bless our Council and God Bless the Knights of Columbus
Vivat Jesus!
Vincent Ursini
