Brother Knights,

It’s that time of year again.  Football is in full swing, the Holidays are coming fast and the leaves are falling slow.  There is a lot on our calendar the next two months.  Candy Cane Sunday will be Dec. 15th after all Masses.  Easy peasy, we just need men to stand at the exits handing out candy canes and taking donations.  We use the monies to purchase all the remaining items on the Giving Advent Wreaths.  This year, we are also having Santa and Mrs. Claus at our church after the 10am and 12pm Masses in the basement.  We thought this would be a great way to allow families to get their Santa photos done and be free of charge.  We haven’t done that for a couple years with our kids but I think the last time we visited the mall it was $25 minimum.  We’ll have a free will offering available down there too with some candy canes.
 
Nov. 20th is our Mass at St. Teresa church, 7pm, for the deceased Knights.  All Knights and their families, including the families of past Knights are welcome to attend.  We’ll have light refreshments in the basement and possibly a short meeting also.
 
Nov. 17th @10am Mass is our Corporate Communion.  What is a Corporate Communion, you ask?  I didn’t really know myself.  I learned a long time ago (the hard way) that words can have several meanings.  In this case, corporate means together, unified, one.  This is great way to show the parish two of our pillars, Unity and Fraternity.  Please consider joining us at Mass down in front with your family. 

Vivat Jesus!
 
Semper.
 
Matt Schafers
Grand Knight 833

Brother Knights,
 
Service and Community Involvement

Traditionally, as a contractor, I would know that if I had trenching or backhoeing to do for a job, I would try to have it complete by Oct. 1st knowing that the weather outside could change any day.  After that, it’s a Russel Stover time of year.  You never know what you’re going to get.  Even though it’s been warm the cold is coming.  We have 8 cases this year of coats to donate to our parish school for the annual Coats for Kids program.  Soon I will be dropping them off so they can be distributed to families in need.  This month we also have the annual Tootsie Roll Drive which collects monies to help fund the important work of Villa Marie School at the Marian Sisters.  This school helps the developmentally disabled.  Our city wide collection effort is this weekend and our location is Hy Vee at 50th and O St.  We have a sign up genius out and available so you can sign up for a time slot.  We really need to fill the slots to we can cover all three entrances with two men.  Having two men just helps give moral support to each other and also allows for folks to see two people with buckets, kind of making it more formal or real.  Its not about the Tootsie Roll, its about the impact they can have supporting the good work of the Marian Sisters.  If you’re a student of human interaction, it can be a good time to witness human generosity.  That is this weekend, Oct. 12th and 13th.  Our parish collection after Masses will be the following weekend, Oct. 19th and 20th. 
 
These are two examples of Community Involvement and Charity we do at the Knights of Columbus. 
 
Brother Nick, our Council Recruiter, has been hard at work.  He has organized a football watch party to be held at Fitzgerald Hall on Oct. 19th.  This is a great time to get together with your fellow Knights and make new friends and renew old ones.  Stay tuned for more info on that via emails.  Please support these events and activities.  If you know a man who could be interested in joining the Knights, bring them along.  Let them see what it is we do, how we do it, and why we do it.  This is how we grow and keep our membership active for the next generation of Knights and the service we provide.  Success comes from our collective efforts, it will not come on its own.
 
This is an example of Unity and Fraternity.
 
Vivat Jesus!
 
Semper.

Matt Schafers
Grand Knight 833

Brother Knights,

Vivat Jesus my Brother Knights!  I am not a fan of Latin by any means.  It’s considered a dead language.  What does that mean?  When a language is no longer spoken by a group of people as their native tongue.  Nevertheless, our Catholic Church is full of Latin.  In this case, Vivat Jesus means May Jesus Live or Jesus Lives.  This is the motto of the Knights of Columbus.  Many saints also used this phrase as personal words to live by.  While I was in the Marine Corp we learned to use the motto of Semper Fidelis, meaning Always Faithful.  Though not specifically taught or official, many Marines would simply reply “Semper” to acknowledge another’s use of the motto to them. 
 
We are all brothers in Christ.  Sharing a common belief, faith, set of morals and values and when we come together to work, learn, serve, eat, or pray, we are working together to help each of us build a stronger community, parish, and family.  We tell members to ‘be as active as you want to be’.  I will tell you that if you want to build a relationship with Christ on a deeper level, get more active in the Council.  There are numerous activities throughout the year in which we need your support.  Through that support, you may find the one thing that allows you to grow in understanding that Jesus Lives.  Take it home with you.  Share it with your spouse.  Pass it down to your children.  Spread it to your immediate family.  Share it with coworkers and friends.
 
This month we have a recruiting event scheduled for Sept. 14 & 15.  Please wear your Knights shirt to Mass that weekend.  If you don’t have a shirt, ask an officer and we can get you one.  We have plenty on hand.  Speak to other men of the parish you know and ask them to consider becoming a Knight.  Let them know all the things we do to promote the saying, Jesus Lives.  Many times all it takes is for someone to “ask” them to join.  Point them to our recruiter, Nick Armentrout if you need help.  Signing up is easier than ever and can be done on a phone in just a few minutes.  We grow our membership primarily because we want to give other Catholic men the same opportunity for faith growth and fraternal friendships that we all enjoy ourselves.
 
We will have the annual Coats for Kids program in Oct.  The Council will be purchasing 8 cases of coats to the school to be distributed to needy kids and families.
 
God Bless all of you.  Thank you for all you do as a Brother Knight.  Vivat Jesus!
 
Semper.

Matt Schafers
Grand Knight 833

Brother Knights,

By the time you read this, the new school year will be underway already.  Where does the time go?  We pulled off an amazing Jayhawk Jumpstart this year!  We fed 500 hungry kids and parents.  All we had left over was a few hot dogs.  This is a time for fun and being social.  This is becoming a fantastic tradition and is a great way to showcase the Knights of Columbus to not just parents that haven’t heard of us or know what we do but to the youngsters too.  

The more they see the Knights out and about, the more the boys will know us when that time comes for them to be asked, “Would you like to be a Knight?”.  I fondly remember all the Knight functions that our father dragged us to.  We might not have understood the Knight function but we certainly associated being at the hall with fun times running around all the ground out there.  Soon old man winter will be calling and it will be time for Coats for Kids.  This is time for giving back.  Being a Knight is fun and rewarding with time for social aspects, time to give back in charity, time to serve others, and time to serve God.
 
As I looked around at the gentleman helping cook, serve, set up and clean up afterwards, they were mostly our senior Knights.  Please consider getting more involved.  Perhaps a little bit at a time.  Help out at the Jumpstart for 30 minutes.  Shovel one walk in the winter for a shut in.  Take a shift at a single fish fry.  Come to the fireworks stand for a time.  All of these activities are important aspects of what it means to be a Knight either directly or indirectly.
 
See you all at the next meeting!

Matt Schafers
Grand Knight 833
 

Brother Knights,

Right now it’s 95 degrees outside and it feels like the humidity couldn’t get any higher! Summer in Nebraska. I’ll take it. I love having four seasons (at least that is what I tell folks).

It’s been a busy month not just for me but the Knights too. We just finished our second biggest fundraiser of the year. Ron handed the gavel over to me as your new Grand Knight, and my first meeting as your new Grand Knight at last Wednesday’s general meeting. The District Deputy wants us to host an informal social for several Councils later this month too.

Thanks to all who came out and worked the fireworks tent. I believe it was a great success. Lots of customers coming through. The product looked really exciting this year. As you know, Patriot Pete’s sold out to Wild Willy’s Fireworks. Everything went fairly smoothly. They have a very efficient operation. That’s not to say that we didn’t find things to discuss with them for next year. Overall, I think we are happy and they should be extremely happy with our production. We are blessed to have a great location with an awesome “partner” in HyVee. They really like having us out there and its important that we give a good show all around (think pleasantries, clean, no trash blowing around, etc.)

That being said, we really need to get more of you involved in the process. It takes a lot of men to set up, operate, and tear down. We tore it down in three hours with ten guys but if we’d had more the rest of us could have gotten home sooner than 1 am. We also need at least 6 men to operate the tent at any given time. It’s unfortunate but at least one tent somewhere in the city gets hit with crime of some sort every year. The more men we have on hand and being seen the better odds we have of deterring them from picking our tent.

Thank you and may God continue to bless us all.

Matt Schafers
Grand Knight 833