Knightly News. From the Grand Knight. Father Thomas J. Schwinn Council # Roger Henley, Grand Knight. January-February Happy New Year.

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1 Knightly News Father Thomas J. Schwinn Council #11942 From the Grand Knight Happy New Year. The Christmas season is behind us now and with the New Year I have set some resolutions to try and improve this year. First, I want to be better organized as your Grand Knight. I have been at this for seven months now and I think I am finally getting a grasp on some things to help me be better prepared. Gary Lewis has graciously volunteered to help with the Knightly Newsletter to make sure I don t miss an issue like I did in November/ December. I am adding a By the Numbers section in our Knightly Newsletter to let all our Brother Knights know what kind of participation we have at our meetings, number of new knights recruited and knights who are advancing in degree. Hopefully you will see the numbers and your competitive spirit will help me increase them. Second, I am trying to do more long range planning for the events we do throughout the year. The Schedule of Events in the Knightly Newsletter will be expanded to include projects four to six months out. I am also including our degree exemplifications for Brother Knights who want to advance to the next level so they can put the dates on their calendar. Lastly, I am trying to organize the KC inventory so we can easily get our hands on the items we need for a project. Brother Dave Olberding bought some tubs to sort the different items into and the officers and directors spent a couple of hours before our meeting sorting things into the tubs. We have built some shelves in the storage barn near Father Vu s house and are in the process of moving the items from St Pats and putting them onto these shelves. What I need now is your help. Let me know if you would like to see something else in your newsletter. Let me know if there are other projects or fundraisers you would like the KCs to be involved in. You can reach me at rdhenley45@yahoo.com. Roger Henley, Grand Knight PAGE 1

2 Free Throw Challenge The Fr. Thomas J Schwinn Council conducted the Free Throw Challenge on January 13/14 at Prairie Point middle school. Harry Holland and Duane Panos organized the event and had a very good turnout of helpers from the council. The participation was down a little this year because of school starting late and abbreviated gym classes. There were 154 participants with some very good scores turned in. The winners are Matt Mims, Mallory Strebral, Keegan Murray, Jared Tjelmeland, Jakayla Foster, and Olivia Svoboda. They will advance to the district free throw challenge. On December 8 th a group of eleven hardy souls took to the streets of Fairfax to bring Christmas carols to some of our elderly parishioners. Although it was cold, the music was warm and inviting and we received heartfelt thanks from all of our recipients. After visiting twelve or more houses we retired to Fairfax State bank for chili and hot chocolate to warm our bodies. Our hearts were already warm from the happy smiles we saw on many faces that night. PAGE 2

3 Schedule of Events February 1/2 Membership Drive February 2 Super Bowl Bowling February 24 2 nd / 3rd Degree Exemplification February 26 Regional Free throw Challenge March1 Dance for Life March 15 4 th Degree Exemplification March 20 Stations of the Cross March 20 Corporate Communion March 22/23 State Bowling Tournament April 3 Stations of the Cross April 27 Awards Banquet Insurance Protect Your Family with Knights of Columbus Insurance meetings The State Executive Officers will be holding a Huddle Meeting on February 22 nd at council 5390 in Marion from 10:00am to 2:00 pm. This is open to all knights, not just officers or directors, and a meal will be provided at no cost. The meeting may not last a full four hours but the Executive Officers want to address all questions. If you have questions regarding any aspect of the Knights or the insurance please attend and bring any concerns, suggestions or questions to your State Executive Officers and get the answer first hand. We would like to see as many Brother Knights there as we can. John McGinnis One of the biggest mistakes you can make regarding life Insurance, disability and long care insurance is to assume that you cannot afford it. Before you make that assumption, call and speak to your agent and apply for coverage through The Knights of Columbus. The Knights of Columbus gives their fellow brothers options to customize critical protection which will fit into your family budget. The Knights of Columbus provides stable long term customized products that you will come to appreciate and enjoy, knowing that the Knights of Columbus is covering your family. I would appreciate the opportunity to visit with you and your family. Thank you William Heber, Field Agent william.heber@kofc.org PAGE 3

4 Patriot s Corner Msgr. Sampson Assembly has been very busy so far this year and have a lot of activities lined up. The Assembly is conducting a Pancake Breakfast Benefit on Sunday, Feb. 16 at St. Jude from 8AM-Noon to raise money to assist in scholarships for seminarians who would commit to a period of time as a military Chaplain. Also of great importance is the recruitment of new members from our supporting Councils. The Assembly is co-hosting a 4th Degree Exemplification on SATUDAY, March 15th at St. Pius X in Cedar Rapids. The Degree will begin at 2:00; participating with a Mass and a Banquet/Dance in the evening; all at St. Pius. Cost of the Degree is $70 which includes your social baldric, pin, and dinner ticket. You must be dressed in black tuxedo, black tie and cummerbund. Several of you men have expressed a desire to join. This is the perfect time to attain your highest potential. If interested, contact Faithful Navigator Nick Volk at volkhaus@southslope.net or Also please visit our website at to see what we ve got going on! 40 Cans for Lent Hunger knows no season. It has been a tough winter so far and it is known that the need for food is up and the shelves at local food pantries are sometimes very lean. During Lent, we will again conduct a 40 Cans for Lent program in our council. The goal of this program is exactly as the name implies for each council member to contribute one can of food per day during the forty days of Lent. Pledge to yourself that the Knights of Columbus will reach out to those less fortunate through the Food for Families program during this 40 Days of Lent. You may either provide the canned or boxed item or its cash equivalent. Once the food/funds are collected, we will donate to Metro Catholic Outreach Center in Cedar Rapids. As an additional incentive the Knights of Columbus will now offer financial rebates to councils that donate food or money. The Supreme Council will refund $100 for every $500, or for every 500 pounds of food, that a council contributes to the community food bank, up to a maximum refund of $500 per council per council per fraternal year. Let s make the $500 refund our goal to further leverage our efforts in our first principle of Charity. PAGE 4

5 Second Successful Bleed & Feed Two worthy causes benefitted from the Council s second annual Bleed & Feed held at the Fairfax American Legion on January 4. First, our pancake breakfast netted over $250 with the proceeds going to our scholarship fund. This one event brought in more than half of what we need for one of our scholarships! More importantly, our Fairfax Community Blood Drive brought in 58 units of blood for the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center, three units above our goal! This will impact 232 lives across the region. We also brought in 6 units of O Negative blood at a time where the MVRBC only had 2 units left in stock. Both efforts were a smashing success! Thank you to all the Brother Knights who helped in this effort from making calls to donating blood to helping with food preparation and clean-up. Our next blood drive will be held this summer at Blessed John XXIII. It s tentatively scheduled for July. Stay tuned for details. PAGE 5

6 February 2014 Is awarded to Rick Zettler Knights at December Meeting 17 Knights at January Meeting 15 Knights Recruited 0 Knights Transferred 0 Knights Obtaining 2 nd /3 rd Degree 0 PAGE 6