All posts by Fred Struck

Hello, My name is Fred Struck. I live in Sacramento California. I am a member of St. George Melkite-Greek Catholic Church where I am know as Reader Fred. I have been the Reader at St. George's since 1988. I am also a Past Grand Knight in the Knights of Columbus Sacramento Council 953.
Insurance

Why the Knights of Columbus?

When I meet with new Knights and their spouses for the first time, I always try to conduct a fraternal briefing so they have a brief understanding of how the Knights of Columbus started and what the legacy that our founder, Venerable Fr. Michael J. McGivney left for us.

I also try to show a sampling of the many good works that we as the Knights of Columbus perform locally, nationwide and throughout the world. I cite many of my examples from one of our publications, Did You Know? It’s important that we all understand the foundation of who and why we exist.

For example, did you know the Knights are the creators of a $25 million Vicarious Christi Fund that is conveyed to the Holy Father to fund his many projects of good works? Did you know that we raised $11 million to support persecuted Christians in the Middle East? Did you know that after the Supreme Knight toured the devastation left by the 2010 Haitian earthquake that we provided medical services by fitting youths with prosthetic devices who were crippled by the earthquake?

The Knights of Columbus also generated $175,000,000 and provided 73,000,000 hours of volunteer hours to the Church and communities.

As for the insurance program, we paid in in excess of $609,000,000 in benefits and $275,000,000 in dividends to our insured members. We provide insurance to more than 2 million Knights and their family members.

My brothers, the insurance program has earned the distinction of as being one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for its 3rd year in a row by the Ethisphere Institute. We also continue to earn the highest rating by A.M, Best who independently rates insurance companies. If you haven’t yet, protect your most valuable asset, you and your family.

So why the Knights of Columbus? Because we make miracles happen with the legacy that the Venerable FatherMichael J. McGivney left for us!

May God bless us and our families!

Fraternally,
C. Philip De Leon (CA License #OK63623)
(916) 607-1645
philip.deleon@kofc.org
www.philbetterinsured.com

Council, Grand Knight

Grand Knight’s Message, February 2017

Bryan McKrell Grand KnightDear Brother Knights:

The Council continues to thrive, but there is no doubt that we need more Knights. January was a busy month for the Council, highlighted by a fantastic dinner followed by the longest business meeting of my tenure as Grand Knight. Two weeks later we had an outstanding crab feed, put on by Al Picardo and his lovely wife Peggy. The highlight of the night was the thrilling wins by George Mills and Kevin Riley during the raffle. I’m sure the crab feed will be another financial triumph for the Council but we can’t simply raise funds and consider ourselves successful. We also must be impactful with our charity, and our community outreach.

Brother Dale Edwards reported at the Officers meeting that over 175 children at St. Mary’s school participated in the annual free throw contest, with another large group of children participating at Sacred Heart. These are fabulous numbers which represent one of our most impactful community outreach programs that we participate in as a Council. In addition to these, we have our largest charitable donations slated to be disbursed over the next three months. Scholarships for students at Christo Rey, stipends for seminarians, money to help support Pro-Life groups and children trying to visit their parents in prison. These incredible causes are worthy of our support, and I look forward to seeing these checks written and disbursed by our Financial Secretary.

But to grow our ranks, and thus provide more energy, manpower and enthusiasm to increase our charitable giving, we must create more opportunities to volunteer and be present at the parishes we represent. We must develop stronger relationships with the priests that fall under our Council and reach out to them to see how we can be of assistance. It would be my goal, and my wish, to see us help out at least once during this Columbian year at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, and Immaculate Conception parish. We know that the Bishop has put an extra layer of bureaucracy on our Order, to insure the safety of our young people by requiring finger printing and training classes, but we are going to cross that hurdle next month. I have scheduled in person training and finger printing to take place at our March business meeting so that any Knight who wishes to volunteer, will be able to fulfill the Bishop’s wishes with very little inconvenience. By being present at the Parishes we represent, and volunteering there, we give ourselves a chance to recruit more Brother Knights to our Order.

So, in the spirit of our Brother Dale Edwards, let’s reach out to our parishes and create an opportunity over the next four months to be present and helpful at our local parishes. St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, The Cathedral. St. Francis, Immaculate Conception, St. George, Holy Spirit, and St. Andrew’s are all waiting for their Knights to make an appearance. Let’s see if we can find our way to perform a little outreach and show our potential Brothers what we are all about.

Most Sincerely,
Bryan McKrell
Grand Knight, Council 953

Insurance

Our Insurance Program is Specifically for Knights and our Families

I happened to be donating blood the other day and one of the staff happened to ask what I do. I mentioned that I am a Field Agent with the Knights of Columbus at which time he proudly snapped back, “My dad was a Knight of Columbus.” Naturally, my response was, “Have you considered becoming a Knight?”

Another of the staff members happened to overhear our conversation and said that he heard about the Knights of Columbus for the first time last week. That started a brief discussion about all the good things we do, both for the good of the Order, the Church and the community.

Sadly, when most think of the Knights of Columbus, the things they know us for are the good works that we provide such as Coats for Kids, Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity, Free Throw and Soccerball Challenges, and our infamous Pancake Breakfasts and Crab Feeds.

We tend to forget the legacy that the Venerable Fr. Michael J. McGivney left for us, specifically the Knights of Columbus and their families. That legacy is stated in our original charter of 1882 and the goal remains the same. “To render financial aid to its members and beneficiaries of its members.” That legacy is our Insurance Program and it is specifically for the Knights and our families.

When we think of the insurance program, most think of just whole and term life insurance. But, did you know we also do annuities, long term care, and disability insurance? Right now with tax time just around the corner, many should consider starting an annuity. Also, our long term care program is something most should consider. While many of the other long term care programs have increased their premiums to a member with an existing plan, the Knights of Columbus has never increased a LTC premium to a member with an existing plan …. NEVER! So, maybe it’s time to consider starting an LTC or supplementing your existing plan. It’s not too late to start an LTC in your 50’s. But you won’t know what good value you could have or what an investment could be with the Knights of Columbus if you don’t meet with your Field Agent.

If you would like to setup and appointment or simply just chat, you may call me at (916) 607-1645. You can also follow me on Facebook by searching @PhilipDeLeonKofC or you can go to my website at
www.PhilBetterInsured.com

May God bless us and our families!
Fraternally,
C. Philip De Leon (CA License #OK63623)
(916) 607-1645
philip.deleon@kofc.org
www.philbetterinsured.com

Council, Grand Knight

Grand Knight’s Message, January 2017

Bryan McKrell Grand KnightDear Brother Knights:

One of the things I have enjoyed the most over the last few years is my participation on the First Degree Team for our council. Not only has it given me a chance to be a “fake” Grand Knight and appear important, it has provided me with an opportunity to observe and learn from one of our most charming ceremonials. It is probably not appropriate to discuss certain aspects of our ceremonial in this setting, but lately I have continually contemplated in my mind one of the most important lessons from its script. “Time Flies, Remember Death.” The last few months have brought about far too many
instances of tragic death, or the fear of the possibility. If the two eternal truths are death and taxes, I am still at a loss of what I am so scared about, especially in light of what I consider to be a
fairly strong degree of faith and a stellar record of paying the IRS. But regardless of these, I still cringe at the stories from my very own parish of people with young children and fruitful lives being diagnosed with cancer, cancer, and more cancer. I feel terrible when I read about our members passing, or their family members
falling into eternal rest. Just last week I started to get worried about one of our brothers, until I received word that all went well with his surgery and the doctor was impressed with his strength and stamina. I sometimes forget that some people are simply blessed (and really lucky). It occurred to me that all of us should grow giant
mustaches as a show of solidarity, but I wanted to make sure the doctor’s didn’t shave off brother Alex’s signature feature.

If you are looking to make a New Year’s resolution this year, maybe simply start with, “Promise to Enjoy Yourself, just a little bit more.” Make an agreement to take your wife out on a date, see a funny movie, buy a better cup of coffee, or spend that extra night on a trip. If you own a time share or have been planning a vacation, follow through this year and make it happen. Need a new recliner, a bigger television, or maybe you want to volunteer more time doing charitable work – whatever it is that will make your life just a little bit more rewarding, or simply a little bit more enjoyable 2017 looks promising. Plus if you don’t follow through on your resolution you can just chalk it up to being “practical.”

I would never be naive enough to tell you to not fear death, or not to worry about it because of its inevitability, because I frankly am not looking forward to it one bit. The only positive there might be my death is my life insurance paying off which is good for somebody, other than myself. And I think that a big part of being Catholic is always thinking about the welfare of others.

Most Sincerely,
Bryan McKrell
Grand Knight, Council 953

Council

365 Club

Brothers, you are all encouraged to consider a donation to the 365 Club when you pay your dues. For those who are unfamiliar with the 365 Club, the council asks all its members to make a voluntary donation of, at least, $3.65 (a penny a day) added to their dues. The money collected is turned over to the Columbian Charities, a state council organization, that provides monetary relief to members and their families who have found themselves in severe financial circumstances and who are in immediate need of assistance for food, shelter and other necessities of life. While the basic requested donation is $3.65, please feel free to contribute any amount more than the basic donation if you can. It is an excellent program and has helped a great many of our brother Knights throughout the state and within our own council who have found themselves and their
families in dire need. Thank you for your generosity.

Insurance

2017 Insurance Check Up

Where did 2016 go? It seems like it was summer yesterday and Easter was last week. I hope you and your family had a great finish to 2016. Now, the first weeks of 2017 are speeding by.

Hopefully, you’ve established a few goals for this year. I’ve learned a great tip regarding resolutions. First, write them down. It’s not too late if you haven’t already done this. Commit your goals to paper and post it someplace you will see it often. Writing down a goal is the first step towards achieving it. I don’t know exactly how this works, but I’ve heard stories of the success this simple task can bring. Whether your goal is to exercise more, give more to charity, read more or watch less television, you’re more likely to accomplish it if
you write it down.

Second, resolve to have an expert look at your finances. I recommend that you have a team of experts help you, and I should be among the first you sit with. Schedule some time to visit with me, your professional Knights of Columbus insurance agent, and I’ll provide an “insurance check-up” (at no cost!) that will quickly
identify any gaps in your family’s life insurance program. And you’ll want to fill those gaps now, not later. Unlike many other products, you don’t just need money to obtain life insurance; you also need good health, and no one knows when your health could change.

Did I mention my check-up is free of charge? When was the last time you received something for free that could be providing value to you and your family for generations? Call me today.

Fraternally,
C. Philip De Leon (CA License #OK63623)
(916) 607-1645
philip.deleon@kofc.org
www.philbetterinsured.com