The Knight's Shield - November 2018

As we enter the last week of October, our council is in the final preparations for our 6th Annual Trunk or Treat. Our Youth Director Art Krygowski and his wife Janice along with Ray and Lori Coughlin do much of the planning and coordination for this big council event. Thank you!

Our council was very busy during the month of October. We started out the month with a few Knights helping to move hundreds of cases of books at the Macomb County Library across the street from church. This was to help the library prepare for their annual fall book sale. I would like to especially thank Leon Berdy and George Schulte who did much of the heavy lifting. Ken Krause mentioned that the library and staff were very appreciative of the Knights help.

The next October event we had, was a successful euchre party. Forty four players participated and raised $120 for Abigayle Ministries! Thank you! A big thank you also to Ted and Sherri Czarny and my wife Karla for helping the card games run smoothly! Next euchre party is scheduled for January 26, 2019.

We had our Fall Pancake Breakfast in mid-October. The council served delicious pancakes, French toast, eggs and sausage. Proceeds will go to St. John MCREST which is one of the charities we are participating in again this November. Thank you to Steve Kargenian for chairing the pancake breakfast and everyone that helped Steve picking up supplies, setting up, cooking, serving, cleaning up and to those who attended. It really is good to see so many pitching in to help! Well done! The next pancake breakfast is scheduled for February 10, 2019.

We also had our fall road clean-up along Canal Road from church to Garfield Road. Ten brother Knights helped our event chairman Greg Csernai who needed Rick Okerhjelm to fill in as chairman for Greg on Saturday. We were done in about an hour and a half. Thank you to Bruce Arnold, Ray Coughlin, Steve D’Onofrio, Tom Gray, Tony Guido, Jim Perreault, Ralph Pullis, Craig Thompson and Mike Hartel for helping Rick on Saturday. We could use some additional help next time. Note, you do not require Protecting God’s Children for this event.

Moving on to November, for anyone who has not taken the Protecting God’s Children class, two classes are coming up early this month. The first one is right here at St. Paul of Tarsus on Saturday November 3rd at 9am. Please refer to the more comprehensive list in this newsletter. Remember, you must take this class to help out at many of our council events.

Please consider helping our Membership Director Phil Mularski with the membership committee we are forming. We need everyone to help with encouraging our brother Catholic men to consider joining our order.

If you have children or grandchildren, there is still time to sign up for the District Free Throw Contest on Saturday November 10th 10:00 am (St Clement of Rome - Romeo). Please contact our Youth Director Art Krygowski for more information.

Art and I will be handing out coats for kids soon at Erie Elementary School.

I would like to thank Leonard Gutkowski for his many years of service for raising and lowering the American flag for the parish on the church flagpole. Leonard has advised he is slowing down and is retiring from these duties. Please contact me if you are interested in taking over this volunteer position.

Note that the meal for our November General Meeting is scheduled to start at 6pm due to the Admissions Degree.

As in the past Holy Cross Services are requesting holiday donations. They are asking for:

Sweatshirts (with or without logos): Sizes L, XL, XXL, XXXL, and XXXXL In a box marked boy or girl and size.

Bath baskets (1 gallon plastic bag) Dollar store bath room items with max $10.00 limit.

Hats, Scarves, Mittens, Twin bed sheets or Hotel samples

$5 Gift cards: Meijer, Target or Walmart

Please bring these items to the November meeting, and our District Deputy will deliver to Lansing at the Winter Meeting.

Jeff Gapczynski is taking reservations for the upcoming annual casino trip. Please see the newsletter article and flyer for additional information.

Please provide your support to John Minicuci, who has volunteered to help Joe Roehrig and Ray Ignatowski with our Spring MI Drive!

Our next Corporate Communion will actually be a District Corporate Communion on November 18th at the 11:30am Mass. The council is also sponsoring coffee and donuts after the Mass!

During the week of Thanksgiving we will be helping at St. John for MCREST. Please see the article by our chairman Ray Coughlin for additional information. Please consider volunteering to help for this very worthy cause to help those in our community who are in need at this time!

With the support of Father Jerry, Deacon Marc and the Worship Committee, we are going to reintroduce presentation of the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The purpose of the program is to help promote Vocations with a show of public support and to help remind us to keep vocations in our daily prayers. There will be a sign up binder placed in the gathering space for parishioners to sign up to receive the statue. We plan to begin with a monthly presentation of the statue initially. The kick off date will be during Advent. The presentation frequency will be adjusted depending upon parish participation. Please consider signing up for receiving the Holy Family Statue to help get the program off to a good start. Look for more information in upcoming church bulletins.

As we begin to prepare for the hustle and bustle of the upcoming holiday season, let us remember to Keep Christ in Christmas! If you need a new Keep Christ in Christmas lawn sign or button, we will have some available during our Ham and Kielbasa order dates after Mass. Also, look for our district sponsored “Keep Christ in Christmas” sign on the electronic billboard along M53 at 29 Mile from Thanksgiving through Christmas.

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

The Knight's Shield - October 2018

Please welcome our newest Brother Knight, Richard Motta to our council. Richard became our latest council member by taking his Admission (1st) Degree at St. Lawrence on September 13th.

Also, please welcome two Brother Knights, David Wisnewski and Michael Mitrowski, who have transferred to our council.

This past month was a difficult month for our council. The Lord took home Three Brother Knights from our council alone. Brothers Bill Gowland, Thomas Hayes and Tony Valentine were called home by the Lord. Please remember to keep them and their families in your prayers. A total of seven Brother Knights from our council will be honored with a Memorial Mass hosted by the Knights of Columbus Detroit Archdiocesan Vocation League (DAVL) at Sacred Heart Major Seminary on November 4th at 10am. This is open to all Knights and their families. If you are interested please let me know by October 22.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Corporate Communion in September. We had a nice turnout. Most wore our grey polo shirts. If you need to pick up a grey polo be sure to see Craig Thompson. Our next Corporate Communion will actually be a District Corporate Communion on November 18th at the 11:30am Mass. The council is also sponsoring coffee and donuts after the Mass!

There were over 100 golfers who participated in the September DAVL Golf Outing at Sycamore Hills. I counted at least a dozen golfers from our council. The weather was a little refreshing. However, no rain gear was needed! Thank you for supporting vocations!

Be sure to review the calendar for upcoming October events and sign up at our next General Meeting which just happens to be on Columbus Day! We have Pancake Breakfast, Road Clean-up and Trunk or Treat.

The next euchre party is also coming up right away on October 6th. Call me to save a spot.

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

The Knight's Shield - September 2018

Please welcome our newest Brother Knight, William Pirrami, to our council. Bill became our latest council member by taking his Admission (1st) Degree at St. John Vianney on August 18th.

The annual ice cream social for the parish on the last weekend in July was very popular. The weather was beautiful and the council helped the chairman, Rick Okerhjelm, tremendously. Thank you everyone! Ken D. has placed a nice photo slide show on the council website.
Click here to view the video

I gave Father Jerry the Birthday card the council members signed at our August General Meeting with a gift card for Luigis. He thanked us for all that we do.

The inaugural council camping trip at Lakeport State Park in August was very nice. We had nice weather, Lake Huron was perfect for swimming, the campfires and social time was excellent. We had a total of about a dozen campers on six separate campsites. Good food, along with a few visitors and some nice weather made for a wonderful Saturday evening pot luck dinner.

We are starting to plan for next year already and are targeting the weekend before the Dream Cruise in August 2019 with the same venue.

Thank you to everyone who attended the District Corporate Communion and Officer Installation at St. John Vianney. An excellent meal was served by the host council, St. John Vianney, after the ceremonies. Sue Nellis, Executive Director from Compassion Pregnancy, thanked all the councils who helped with the renovation work earlier this year at the Compassion Pregnancy facility, and provided a cake for dessert.

Be sure to review the calendar for upcoming September events such as our Corporate Communion, Texas Hold’m (sign-up sheet at our next General Meeting) and the DAVL Golf Outing (See flyer).

Note that October is right around the corner with some of our bigger events scheduled such as Pancake Breakfast and Trunk or Treat.

The next euchre party is also coming up on October 6th. A sign-up sheet will be available at our next meeting. Please note that we had 56 players at the last party. Capacity is 60 players. So save yourself a spot and sign up early. A notice to the parish for euchre will be placed in the September 23rd and 30th church bulletins.

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

Knights Ice Cream 2018 Video

Click here to view the video.

The Knight's Shield - August 2018

Please welcome our newest Brother Knight, Ken Dudley, to our council. Ken became our latest council member and the first one taking his Admission (1st) Degree online. Ken has been involved with our council for a while now. He has set up our council website: spotknights.com.

With the council membership and insurance goals met for the fiscal year ending June 30th, our council has reached Star Council! Congratulations to everyone for a job well done.

Thank you everyone who helped Rick Okerhjelm set up and take down the tent for the Vacation Bible Experience. I also would like to thank Rick for cooking a wonderful fish dinner for our July meeting while braving the 90 degree heat!

The Summer Diocesan Meeting was held in July at St. Isidore. Some of the many items discussed were membership sustainability, programs and the new dashboard being released for officers submitting forms to the State and Supreme.

Be sure to review the calendar for upcoming events such as the council camping trip to Lakeport and District Corporate Communion with Officer Installation in August. Also note we have Texas Hold’em, Corporate Communion and the DAVL Golf Outing coming up in September.

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

New Owner Keeps Big Boy’s Friendly Atmosphere

When retirement seemed right for the longtime owner of the Big Boy eatery on Maple Road, Brother Knight Gerry Vento took notice. He’s been working on the corporate side of the company for a decade, but always wanted to have his own restaurant, and this was the perfect time. He took over operations on April 26 of this year and is now getting to know all the neighborhood’s long-time customers. “I’ve been in the industry for 28 years,” Vento notes. “I started when I was 15 as a dishwasher, moved to the Chuck Muer Corporation and then the last 10 years with Big Boy.” Now it’s on to a new adventure. The Macomb Township resident smiles, and adds, “I’m very glad I did it. This is a great location, and I have a great staff and great customers.” And, all the things you love about Big Boy, home of the original Double Decker Cheeseburger, are still available at this restaurant, which is now over 80 years old. (It’s not too late in the season for strawberry pie.) They still have shakes, malts, and yes, root beer floats, perfect for this weather. The Salad Bar is available from 9 a.m. to close. There’s an all-you-can eat Breakfast Bar on Saturday and Sunday from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Plus, you can have breakfast any time and there are literally dozens of entrees from burgers to pasta to fish. You won’t be disappointed and the prices are still modest. For those with allergies, the Big Boy menu marks any item that may contain nuts. “I love the hospitality industry,” Vento confesses. “I enjoy people having a good experience and I want the food service they’re getting to be exceptional. I love taking care of people.” What Gerry wants is his own “Cheers” where everyone knows your name. And, he seems able to greet everyone coming in at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday morning by name. This Big Boy is also a bit of a Vento family affair, too. Gerry’s wife Terri, who works at Gleba & Associates financial planners up on Square Lake in Troy, is keeping the restaurant’s books. Son Vincent, whose home for summer from Central Michigan where he’s studying prelaw, is a server this season. And daughter Genna, who plans to be a teacher, will probably be able to find work here when she’s ready. Big Boy is open from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. Come and enjoy the friendly atmosphere and tasty food.

THE LONG-TIME TROY Big Boy
Restaurant at 200 Maple Road just
West of Livernois has a new owner,
Brother Knight Gerry Vento.

The Knight's Shield - July 2018 - New Grand Knight Mike Hartel

Brother Knights, thank you for your confidence in selecting me to be your Grand Knight. It will be an honor to serve and help lead our great council that has been shaped over the past 20 years by our officers, directors, chairmen and all Brother Knights who have and continue to support the spirit and principals of our order.

I would like to thank all outgoing officers and directors for their time, hard work and dedication they have given to this council. A special thanks to our outgoing Grand Knight, Art Krygowski and Membership Director, George Loewen. Do not be concerned that Art and George are retiring completely from our council officer and director ranks. Art was elected to Trustee and will also stay on as our Council Youth Director. George will remain as our Council Community Director.

Congratulations to all of our incoming officers and directors. I look forward to working with all of you in the coming fraternal year. I would especially like to welcome the following officers and directors to their new positions: Tom Gray, Deputy Grand Knight (Tom has been our Chancellor for the past two years); Steve Kargenian, Chancellor (Steve has been a trustee for 3 years and has recently volunteered to chair our pancake breakfast), Phil Mularski, Membership Director (Phil has been active with recent membership recruiting efforts by creating the pamphlets and articles such as ‘Why become a Knight?’ and the ‘24 Hour Knight’ while also leading the rosary for many of our fallen brothers); Frank Burda, Lecturer (Frank has been filling in for Jim Hubbard). Please support these brothers in their new roles and continue to support all our officers and directors! We are a very active and dynamic council. Thank you all for your time and effort you have given to this council!

Please welcome three new Brothers Knights to our Council: James Perreault, Anthony Radman and Steve Szypa. They completed their admission degree joining our council on June 25th.

You will find that proper communication is very high on my priority list for a well-organized council. Effectively communicating with our brother knights, parish staff, fellow parishioners and the general public is a key element to successful events, fundraisers and a smoothly well run council. To try and help improve communication and help streamline our monthly General Meeting, the monthly Officer Meeting is being renamed to Council Planning Meeting. All council members are welcome to this meeting. They are typically held on the fourth Thursday of the month. This is a good place to bring ideas for consideration to the council and to initially request support for a charity you are supporting. It is especially important for all Officers, Directors and Chairmen to try and attend these meetings.

I encourage the council, which is all of you, to get more active with the newsletter. Maybe you just read a good joke that would be appropriate for the Lighter Side of the newsletter. This newsletter is OUR council newsletter and not just an exercise or busy work for the Grand Knight and our editor. We have received many compliments on the quality of our newsletter. This is one of our main opportunities to communicate with not only our council members but with our families, fellow parishioners, other councils and the general public. All event chairmen, please take the time to send an article to our editor (Chris Gapczynski) for our monthly newsletter a month or two before your event. Be sure to check the latest newsletter for article deadlines.

I would like to thank Ted Czarny for spearheading the hard copy mailing of our newsletter the last few years. Also, Hank Leflere, Phil Kwasny, George Sakorafos and Ralph Pullis who help with the final prep work to mail the newsletters each month. FYI, through our effort to email the newsletter to as many council members as possible, instead of mail-ing a hard copy, we are saving the council over $1000 a year in postage and printing expenses! Thank you!

Now that summer is here, try to take some time and enjoy some of that beautiful God-given sunshine while we have a slightly slower pace in our council and plan to come back physically, mentally and spir-itually refreshed by the time September arrives when we know the pace will quicken.

Please remember our fallen brother Ken Dom-browski. Please keep Ken and his family in your prayers.

Vivat Jesus
Mike Hartel

The Knight's Shield - June 2018

Please welcome to 11689 our newest Brother, Greg Kropidlowski, who completed his admission degree, hosted right here at St. Paul of Tarsus. Also thank you to Chuck Lomasney for standing in as a candidate from 11689 so Greg was not alone.

At the time of this writing we need two more candidates to receive Star Council. Please help keep this honor ongoing for 11689 and ask a friend or someone you know to consider joining the Order. The next admissions degree is at St. Lawrence on Thursday, June 14, at 6:30 pm.

It is with sadness that I am informing all of you that Brother Carl R. Maron, 78 years old, went home to the Lord on May 9, 2018. Please keep Carl and his family in your prayers. May he rest in peace.

This will be the last message from me to you as your Grand Knight. It has been my honor to serve Council 11689 as your Grand Knight! I stepped into a great legacy of past Grand Knights, and I hope that I lived up to your expectations as your Grand Knight! Thank you to my beautiful wife Janice, who without her love, support and guidance I would not have been able to perform my duties to 11689.

In a very short month. I will become your Past Grand Knight as I take on a different role in our council as the Three Year Trustee. As it was a unanimous decision this year, our council elected current Deputy Grand Knight, Mike Hartel as our new Grand Knight. It has been a quick two years for both of us, and I know Mike will lead our council to new heights during his time as Grand Knight! Looking back on the past two years, it is hard to believe that twenty four months have passed since you elected me as your Grand Knight. Thank you for trusting me to lead our council. Together, we have accomplished a great deal for our community, parish, and our families. Even though we have made many strides toward greatness, there is always more that we can do to build the domestic church and our Brotherhood. You have my commitment that as the three year trustee, I will work as hard as I did in this past two years to meet and exceed the needs of the community and church.

The 2018 State convention is now over, and on behalf of our 1st alternate delegate Ted Czarny and his wife Sherri (Deputy Grand Knight Mike Hartel and his wife Karla were unable to attend), and my wife Janice and I, we would like to thank all of our Brother Knights for allowing us to represent 11689 at this great event. The new State Officers will be ready for their new positions starting July 1st. I would like to thank our Worthy State Deputy Ken Unterbrink for leading the State of Michigan for the last two years through a very difficult time as we lost our Worthy State Secretary Tony Vittorini...may God rest his soul. Tony was awarded the Posthumous Golden Knight Award.

The New State officers are:
State Deputy: William Chasse
State Secretary: Walter Winkle Jr.
State Treasurer: Christopher Kolomjec
State Advocate: Barry Borsenik
State Warden: Charles McCuen (shown below)

The guest speaker this year was Worthy Deputy Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Patrick Kelly.He is also the executive director of the Saint John Paul II National Shrine. He talked to us about Long Term Sustainability of Brother Knights, and how everyone knows who the Knights of Columbus are, but they don’t know what we do. The Knights have produced a video series on this topic, and he would like us all to view and pass out the link to anyone you can:

The skies cleared and the Living Rosary was able to be prayed as tradition.

Hundreds praying and waiting for the rain to hold off for the Living Rosary. As usual the weather cooperated and the front lawn of the Grand Hotel provided the ideal location. Below the balloons of the Rosary released to Heaven.

To the Officers who will be completing their terms, I extend my sincerest thank you for the performance of your positions. It has been my pleasure to serve with each of you. To those who have been newly elected as an officer, I congratulate you and wish each of you well during the coming fraternal year. At our May general membership meeting, elections were held and the fol-lowing Brothers were elected to serve as your officers for the coming year:

The Man of the Shroud Exhibit was on display from May 31st until June 4th. I hope you had a chance to stop by and see this wonderful event. The Shroud of Turin has long been venerated by the faithful and is believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth. The Shroud is one of the most scientifically studied religious icons in history. As science has progressed, so has the speculation on how the image of the crucified man of the Shroud was made. Thank you to Fr. Jerry for allowing the Knights of Columbus to bring this to St. Paul of Tarsus and the many people it took to assemble, disassemble and support the event.

Special thank you to Msgr. Todd Lajiness, Rec-tor and President of Sacred Heart Major Semi-nary in Detroit. Msgr. Todd lived and studied in Rome while he was Cardinal Szoka’s secretary. He has studied the shroud while he was in Rome and continues to share his wonderful presentation and reflections on the Man of the shroud.

Thank you to Steven Kargenian, our new pan-cake breakfast chairman, for his behind-the-scenes organization, and Phil Kwasny for putting on another successful breakfast...along with all the help that jumped right in to serve St. Paul’s.

Thank you to Greg Csernai for organizing our annual spring roadside cleanup. We had a small turnout, but we got’er done! Thank you to Ray Coughlin, Greg Csernai, Tom Gray, Mike Hartel, James Lambertus, Ralph Pullis and Gary Skarb for coming out and having some fun!

Many people have been asking for the Larger K of C lapel pins. I have them available for purchase – the cost is $5.00 each. Anyone interested can get one at the General Membership or Officers meetings.

Vivat Jesus
Art Krygowski
Grand Knight / Youth Director

The Knight's Shield - May 2018

Please welcome to our council three new brothers who completed their Admission degree hosted by Fr. Solanus Casey Council 3797 on Sunday April 22nd. Congratulations Larry Kitka, Anthony Perfetto and Steve Polak.

Our Fraternal year is just about over. Once again, in May, our Council will join other local councils from the State at our annual State Knights of Columbus Convention. During the Convention, the State Council not only recognizes their outstanding councils but also sets each council’s goals for the upcoming fraternal year that begins in July. Every Brother should be proud of the work that the St. Paul of Tarsus Council has done throughout 2017/2018 fraternal year. We definitely achieved our Lord and Savior’s mission of spreading the message of peace and love. A big round of thanks and appreciation is due to each Brother for their outstanding support. Furthermore, the families of our Brothers deserve a great round of thanks for giving their dads and husbands the time to spend with this outstanding council.

Our 5th annual fish fry is now over. I would like to thank the many volunteers that came out to work. Some helped a couple of weeks and others came every week to help, pulling together as a team. Many thanks to each and every person that was a part of that team. We served 2,827 customers in the six weeks we were here. Which is 632 more than last year and a total over the last five years of 11,101 customers that enjoyed the food and fellowship!! See you next year!!

On Friday March 23rd the Knights of Columbus led the Stations of the Cross. This was well attended by over 60 people. Thank you goes out to Al Gulick, Hank LeFlere, Phil Mularski, Robert Tette and Tony Valentine for assisting myself in the celebration of the Stations of the Cross.

On Palm Sunday weekend our members took to the street and store fronts distributing Tootsie Rolls and accepting cash donations. To all who helped make this drive so successful … thank you so much! We cannot forget several other groups that were involved; our Brother Knights that camped out for many, many long hours in the pantry counting all those donations, and Brother Joe Roehrig for chairing this great fundraiser to support the Mentally Impaired. Finally, to Sheryl Ignatowski and all the ladies that helped keep our bellies full and to everyone who brought in the food to feed us.

At our May 14th meeting, we will have our second round of officer nominations and voting on NEW officers. 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.

Many people have been asking for the Larger K of C lapel pins. I have them available for purchase – the cost is $5.00 each. Anyone interested can get one at the General Membership or Officers meetings.

Vivat Jesus
Art Krygowski
Grand Knight

The Knight's Shield - April 2018

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