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

Brother Knights,

Happy March, Brother Knights! I would say that we are closing in on Spring, but with the February we had it seems as though spring has sprung.

As you all know, Spring brings Lent, Lent brings fish fries, fish fries bring people and without many of you we wouldn’t be able to have these fish fries. With two Fridays under our belts, we have served over 1000 patrons. Like Brother Szatko wrote in a Facebook post, build it and they will come….and boy have they been coming! Thank you to all that have helped and will continue to help in the next few weeks!

Congratulations to our Knight of the Month, John Weber and our Knight Family of the Month, Francisco Romero and his family. John is at the hall every Thursday evening setting out placemats, salt and pepper and arranging tables and chairs. Such an important team member in our fish fry success! Francisco’s family has been a staple at our first 2 fish fries. Francisco and his wife have been blessed with 10 children and the majority of them have been working at our hall on Friday nights. As a matter of fact, 3 of them have been helping with the drive thru orders and have done a tremendous job! Thank you to Francisco, his wonderful wife and amazing kids!

We will continue to need help with the meals on Fridays for the remainder of Lent, so if you can spare some time please stop by the hall!

We have the Regional Free Throw contest at St. Teresa’s on March 23rd. It is an awesome event where we showcase our council but more importantly our wonderful school! Volunteers will be needed so look for more information to come.

At our March 20th General Meeting we will begin reading names for the officer positions within our council for the upcoming election. The election will be held in May. Knights wanting to be an officer can self nominate, or can be nominated by another council member. The procedure is to read these names at the March, April and May meetings. After the 3rd reading, in May, we will have a vote for officers. This is important for the success and longevity of our council. We need younger Knights that are willing to step into leadership positions within our council. If you would like to be a nominee, or have a brother Knight you would like to nominate please send an email to me at schinkelr@gmail.com , or you can share your name, or other’s names at the March meeting. Like I mentioned, we will begin reading names at the March meeting and vote in May. If you are unsure of the positions, and what they entail, please reach out. The future of our council is dependent on younger Knights taking on these important roles. Thanks for considering.

This will be the last newsletter before Easter Sunday. I pray you and everyone you care about have a blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter. Thank you for what you do for our parish and council.

Vivat Jesus,

Ron Schinkel
Grand Knight
Council 833

Belated Happy New Year Brother Knights!  

We were so busy as the calendar rolled over to 2024 that we didn’t have time to get a newsletter out for January.  Even though we started a new year, our council stayed steadfast in providing services to others!

Brother Brad Behne is the Knight of the Month for January.  The service he performed for our council and for the youth of our parish was that he organized and directed the Knight’s Free Throw Contest that was held earlier in the month.  The event was a HUGE success with many young people participating and many, many people in the stands to cheer on the participants!  Thank you, Brad, and to the other members of our council that worked the event!

Brother Jeff Knievel and his family are our Knight’s Family of the Month for January.  Not only did Jeff help with the Free Throw contest, but he and his children could be seen out scooping snow for the parishioners we serve.  Thank you, Jeff and family for all you do for our council and parish!

Please welcome into our council 4 Knights that became 3rd degree members on January 17th.
Weston Svoboda, Tim Echtenkamp, Alex Kleinjan and Frank Egelhoff. We had a great turnout of brother Knights for the CUF ceremony that was held before our General Meeting.  If you see these Brother Knights, please welcome them!

With the bitter cold and enormous amount of snow we have had, I must share with you how proud I am of our Snow Knights.  They have been out many times in the past 2 months digging out the elderly and homebound members of our parish.  We do this service for free, upholding Father McGivney’s ideal virtue of Charity.  Say a prayer in thanks for these men and their family members that help them every time we get snowfall. 

As we prepare to enter the Lenten season, we are reminded about the fish fry dinners that will begin on February 16th.  Our fish frys run from 4:30-7 PM at Knight’s Hall, 6044 South Street.  We are ALWAYS in need of helpers during this great event!  All of this money goes back to our parish and our school, so if you could give an hour or two, it would be greatly appreciated.  To sign up go to this link…

https://forms.gle/Qnq8VFUhhLzpe8e97

Or email me, text me or call me with the times you can give a hand.  My number is 402-429-2515, or my email is schinkelr@gmail.com
Thank you for considering!

A few items to put on your calendar for this month ….. 
February 9- Fat Tuesday Party at St. Teresa’s for all men of the parish.
February 16- First Fish Fry Dinner at the hall.
February 21- General Meeting at the hall beginning at 7:30.  Come enjoy some pizza, a beverage and give input at our meeting.
February 23- 2nd Fish Fry Dinner at the hall
February 26- Officer/Directors Meeting at the hall.  All Knights are invited.
If you know of a Catholic gentleman that would be interested in joining our Council please have him get in touch with me.  Thank you!

May God continue to bless us all.

Ron Schinkel,
Grand Knight