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

Brother Knights,

This will be my final newsletter article as your Grand Knight. Thank you for allowing me to lead this great organization these past 2 years. I hope I have served you well and honorably. We have accomplished many great things these last two years and this is because of the dedication and commitment of our Knights and their families. Thank you for making this journey a success for all of us.

We have our fireworks stand just around the corner. You have received emails regarding sign up for volunteers. If you have students for family members that need service hours for school or other programs, working the stand counts toward these. You will continue to receive emails about the sign-ups for a couple of weeks.

Congratulations to James McCarville as our Knight of the Month. James is the point man for our fireworks each year and does a great job! Thanks James.

The Knight Family of the Month is my wife Claire and I. Thank you to the officers for voting us as the Family of the Month. Thank you to Claire for allowing me to spend much time and effort in leading this Council these past 2 years.

The past 2 years I have asked you to give. I have asked you to give time to our endeavors, I’ve asked for donations, we’ve asked you to pay your annual dues, I’ve asked and asked until we are all blue in the face! This final request I have of you is to TAKE. TAKE time in prayer for each other, TAKE time to spend with your spouse, your children, your family, your neighbors and yourself. TAKE time to read a book or lay on a blanket outside and look at the clouds. TAKE a deep breath. And finally TAKE a look around and thank God for what we have, all because of Him, His sacrifice and His love.

Thank you and may God continue to bless us all.

Ron Schinkel,
Grand Knight 833

Brother Knights,

Here we are diving into the month of May!  Spring brings us so many wonderful things.  Our parish has had the first communion celebrations, confirmation is in the next few weeks, we have beautiful flowers and trees blooming (along with allergies)….it is just a time of new beginnings!

I recently attended the Knights of Columbus State Convention in Kearney.   This is a nice event but I don’t think it portrays the reason many of us become Knights.  There is a nice dinner/awards ceremony on Friday evening.  Many categories are covered and awards are given to the council that is chosen to receive the award. Council 833 didn’t get recognized at the state level for any of the many things we do throughout the year but let me assure you we get recognized by the people that matter!  Those are the people we serve.  Our parishioners, our school teachers, our school students and our fellow knights.   Is a plaque nice? Sure it is … .but what grabs at my heart, and fills it with pride,  is the cards, letters, emails, phone calls and personal conversations I have with the people we serve.   Thanking ALL OF US for the good deeds we do.  The fish fry dinners that bring people together, the snow scooping, the presentations of roses, of bibles and of ice cream treats.  These are the reasons I am so proud to be a Knight.  The CHARITY that the Knights of my council does!  You are all the winners of the greatest award we can receive and that is people’s admiration and respect for what you do.
Thanks to all of you!

We would like to show our appreciation to you and your family for what you do by hosting a pizza and pasta party on May 19th at the Knights of Columbus Hall.  This event will begin at 5 PM and the menu will consist of pizza, pasta, salad, breadsticks, desserts and drinks.  We will also have a bounce house for the kids.

To RSVP please text me at 402-429-2515 with your name and how many will be attending or you can go to this link… https://forms.gle/GKUHnxdDyCDPufxb7  and submit the information.  Please RSVP by May 15th.

I would like to thank our Knight of the Month, Joe Schroedl, for the countless hours he spends helping the Knights.  I would also like to share with you something I observed with Joe at mass a few weeks ago.  Joe was sitting in his pew at the side of the church when a parishioner who is visually impaired sat in front of Joe.  Communion time came and Joe took it upon himself to inform this parishioner it was time to go to the communion rail.  Joe then escorted this person to the communion rail and back to her pew.  What a gentleman you are Joe and a special person, in a world that needs more Joe Schoedls!

Our Knight Family of the Month is Alex Cordry and his family.  Year in and year out Alex and his kids show up on the Friday nights of Fish Frys and work, work and work.  We appreciate the time and effort Alex and his family give to our council.  

As I mentioned at the beginning of this message, spring brings new beginnings and many changes.  I will also be experiencing change.  As May comes to a close, so will my career as a teacher.  My 32 year tenure as a public school teacher will come to an end.  As with anything you pour yourself into, this will be bittersweet for me.  I look forward to free time with my family and grandchildren but I know I will miss the interactions with my colleagues and students.  Also coming to a close is my time as your Grand Knight.  At the end of our Fraternal Year, June 30, I will be stepping down as the Grand Knight of Fitzgerald Council.  The reins will be passed on to Matt Schafers who will do an outstanding job as the leader of the council.  This, too, will be a bittersweet time for me.  I have enjoyed every aspect in the position of Grand Knight for the storied 833 Council.  This experience was so fulfilling only because of each of you.  Thank you for your continued prayers for me, and for our council, as we move forward.

Important Dates:
5/14- Election Day
5/15-General Meeting, 7:30, K of C hall
5/19- Appreciation Dinner, 5:00 PM…RSVP please
5/20- Officer/Director Meeting, 7:30 PM
5/27- Memorial Day

Thank you and may God continue to bless us all.

Ron Schinkel,

Grand Knight 833

Happy Spring Brother Knights!  

Here we are already into April.  Hard to believe how quickly the Lenten season went, along with our fish frys.  What a VERY SUCCESSFUL fish fry season it was for our council.  I am not sure if you were able to read our FS Tony Schafers recaps every week, but we have an amazing author in our ranks!  Tony’s writings were spot on and our numbers for the 6 Fridays we served fish were staggering for our Council.
There is not enough space in this newsletter to thank everyone that is involved with making these evenings so successful. The Knights, the families of our Knights and the friends of our Knights are the ones that need to be congratulated for our success.  I, as you Grand Knight, am so thankful for everyone.  From the customers to the fryers, the drink servers, the dish washers….all of you THANK YOU!

Please watch your emails as we will be having a family dinner at the hall sometime soon to show our appreciation for helping with the fish fry. We will work to schedule this on a Sunday in May if possible.
Just a couple of reminders….

April 17-General Meeting at the hall, 7:30 PM
April 29- Officer/Director Meeting at the hall, 7:30 PM

Many of our Knights have yet to pay this year’s dues.  Dues are $30.  FS Tony Schafers will be sending our notices.  If you aren’t sure you can contact Tony or myself.  You can also Venmo your dues payment to 
@Ron-Schinkel

Thank you and may God continue to bless us all.

Ron Schinkel,

Grand Knight