KOFC – Council 11091 Newsletter
From the Grand Knight’s Desk:
Brothers,
The 2nd quarter of the calendar year (or last quarter of the fraternal year) are usually somewhat quiet for us when compared to the Lenten and the Christmas seasons but that’s just because you guys do so much during those othertimes. You still have done rosaries, dine and shares, cleaned up Algonquin Road, sold Mother’s Day gifts, and built nativity sets for next season already. You are also going to do manpower events, host a fundraiser carryout / tailgate for a parish family, more rosaries, membership degree ceremony, attend the IL state convention, enjoy the state Kamporee, put on a blood drive, and initiate the new slate of officers for our council. That’s a busy quarter.
The fundraiser carryout / tailgate is for the O’Hearn Family. Nick O’Hearn was the husband to our parish school principal Brenna O’Hearn’s family. He sudden passed away last month. He was far too young. PGK Andre Manaois stepped up and proposed a fundraiser for the family. He put together a committee, picked a date, had a flyer put together, and it was full steam ahead from there. It is so gratifying to watch as our “men of action” continue to step up and follow the
first tenet of the order – charity.
The PGK trustees and a few officers met last month to discuss the openings in our officer slate. We agreed upon asking 3 outstanding Catholic gentlemen to join the officer ranks and they all accepted. The full officer slate is published in this newsletter and I fully endorse the list from top to bottom. I expect these men will carry on the tradition of our order and our council wonderfully like our previous officers have for all of the years of our council.
Ty Simmons, the Illinois State New Council Development Director, visited us last month at our general meeting. He spoke about how we should make a push for finding new Knights to join our order for our next degree ceremony on Sunday, May 23rd. I believe that he made some excellent points to us that I agree with him wholeheartedly. He told us that:
- He was honored to visit our council. He appreciated our warm welcome and appreciates all of the wonderful work that we do for the Knights and for charity. We have been blessed to have a founding Knight, Tom McCabe, “who should be emulated. Not only did he start the council 28 years ago but today he remains an integral part of its success.”
- We are blessed to have the full support of our clergy and specifically our Pastor.
- We should be proud of the wonderful work that has already been done since the council was started and the wonderful work that we are doing in the present.
- What he wanted us to avoid was having the council age out by not continuing to add new Knights to continue on our great work. It would be terrible to see the council disbanded years from now because we failed to recruit Knights who will one day become our council leadership.
Please join me in the few weeks and identify one Catholic gentleman who you think would make a good Knight. Tell him about the Knights and why you joined and why you are active in the council. Think about your story and why the Knights have been so good to you. Remember to tell him that we have no minimum time commitment. (One of our Knights asked me this before joining so other guys might think that there is.) Tell him to remember that his family, his job, and whatever else he chooses comes before the Knights. Tell him if we have an event and he can only help for part of it, we will thank him for coming for whatever amount of time that he came. Our council effort is the sum of all of our work. Invite him to come to the fundraiser that we are doing for the O’Hearn family on May
15th. Let him see our Knights in action.
Our anniversary dinner was postponed due to many conflicts for many Knights reducing the attendance well below the minimum for the event. Golf Club of Illinois reduced the minimum number for us below the original contract number and then graciously allowed us to postpone the event altogether when our costs were going to essentially be double. Try to patronize GCI if you have a chance and tell them that the Knights appreciate them. The dinner will be rescheduled in June or July. Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise and even more people will have the opportunity to attend.
You know that the pandemic is slowing down and the light at the end of the tunnel is becoming brighter and brighter when the underlying theme to the entire newsletter isn’t all about the pandemic and the restrictions preventing us from doing our great work…
Links of interest:
https://kofc11091.square.site/shop/carry-out-and-tailgatefamily-fundraiser-saturday-may-15th/8 – O’Hearn Family
Fundraiser Carryout / Tailgate
https://kofc11091.square.site/shop/membership-dues/2 – Pay
your dues
Vivat Jesus!
Dave Frendreiss
GK Council 11091