To My Brother Knights and Their Families:

I am thankful for the trust you have placed before me. I wish to acknowledge our outgoing Grand Knight, Fred Struck, for leading over the past year, along with the other officers who continue faithfully serving for the good of the order and our council. It is a blessing to serve with so many wise brothers, especially when faced with many fraternal and charitable activities spanning the next twelve months. The first three deal with supporting our hall, St. Mary’s, and the students.

Next month, I will share our “goals” and “challenges” for the coming year. Taking the advice of a past Grand Knight, our goals will be reasonable. As for the challenges, nothing is impossible as long as we continue to serve our church, our community, those who are less fortunate, and each other.

Thank you.
Go! Make a difference…
John Sheldon
Grand Knight, Council 953

To My Brother Knights and Their Families:

Elections for a new slate of officers will be held at this month’s business meeting and you will have a new Grand Knight on July 1st. The year has gone by quickly and it has truly been a blessing to be your Grand Knight. I want to thank each and every member of our council for their part in making this a successful Columbian year. Every time something needed to be done, several of our members were there to help.

I want to especially thank our chaplain Father Brendan for giving us spiritual direction and praying for us this past year. I want to thank our worthy District Deputy Don Snow for his bits of wisdom and advice. Thanks to all of the council officers, program directors, event chairmen and cooks. There are many people who did many things too numerous to name.

Supreme gave us a goal of increasing our membership by 16 this year in order to be a Star Council. We brought in 19 new members this year. About half of those new members were brought in by John Watling. It looks like we have also met our insurance quota of 6. If we do not have drops in our insurance members before the end of the month, we will have achieved Star Council thanks to all of you.

The nominating committee has a great list of nominees for the new Columbian year. I am confident that the council will be in good hands and that next year will be even more successful that this year has been.

Thank you.
Go! Make a difference…
Fred Struck
Grand Knight, Council 953

To My Brother Knights and Their Families:

Many thanks to PGK Dale Edwards and everyone else who helped out on this year’s Irish Night. It was a successful event. Please see Dale’s article for further information.

At our March Business meeting we voted unanimously to pass the resolution to donate $1,500 from our Memorial Fund to help support a special retreat of members from the Newman Catholic Community, who will remember our deceased members in their prayers. In future years we anticipate having a special fund raiser to raise money to help support the Newman Catholic Community’s retreat. More than half of the new members to our council this year have come from the Newman Catholic Community.

As mentioned last month our council is conducting a Lenten food drive. I’m asking that each council member donate one can of food per day for the forty days of lent. If you can’t donate 40 cans of food, please donate what you can. If you don’t want to donate cans you can also donate cash or gift cards from a grocery store. We will collect your donations at our business meeting on April 10th. Please let me know about any of our council members who are in need. We will help our brother knights and their families first. The remainder will be given to local food banks.

Our annual Garage Sale for Charity is coming up on Saturday and Sunday, April 26th and 27th. Several Brother Knights are needed to help set up for the sale on Friday, April 25th as well as to help during the Garage Sale and cleanup on Sunday. Please contact Terry Corcoran or Steve Mills if you are able to help.

Thank you.
Go! Make a difference…
Fred Struck
Grand Knight, Council 953

To My Brother Knights and Their Families:
We had 2 big events last month. Ladies Night gave us the opportunity to treat the special women in our lives to a fun filled evening. Thanks to PGK Matt Lucien and his crew who did a fantastic job as usual. I was in North Carolina for a few weeks and was unable to attend, but my wife Mary went to Ladies’ Night and commented how good the food was.

This year’s Pasta Dinner was held on February 27. Thanks to all who helped put on the dinner especially PGK Ricardo Saldaña for organizing the dinner and Johnny Waldron & his cooks. The Life Center staff is so very grateful for everyone’s hard work on this fundraiser. The dinner was delicious, the food was plentiful, the raffle was so much fun, but the best part was seeing so many people come together who support the work that the Sacramento Life Center and Bishop Gallegos Maternity Home are doing. Further information on both these events will be provided later.
This year’s Irish Night will be held on Thursday March 20. For reservations or to volunteer to help out please call PGK Dale Edwards at: (916) 359-2412 or leave a message on the hall phone at 916-736-0953.

A few months ago our council agreed to donate 2 wheel chairs to the Knights of Columbus Wheel Chair Program. Many thanks to our Worthy District Deputy Don Snow who donated an additional wheel chair in our council’s name.
Lent is about to begin. This is a time of the year where we make a special effort to fast, pray and to provide charitable works. Our council is going to conduct a food drive this year. I’m asking that each council member donate one can of food per day for the forty days of lent. If you can’t donate 40 cans of food, please donate what you can. We will setup a box in the hall to collect your donations . Please let me know about any of our council members who are in need. We will help our brother knights and their families first. The remainder will be given to local food banks.
Thank you.
Go! Make a difference…
Fred Struck
Grand Knight, Council 953

To my brother knights & their families,

Our Crab Feed was held on Saturday January 18th. This is one of our big fund raisers. Many thanks to all who helped prepare the food, serve the food, sold raffle tickets and helped cleaned. Also thanks to all who brought friends and family to the dinner and purchased raffle tickets. A special thank you to Al Piccardo who not only chaired the dinner but also brought many people to the dinner and solicited many of the raffle prizes. This was the second major fund raiser that Al has chaired in two months.

Ladies Night on February 20th is a great opportunity for us to treat the special women in our lives to a very special fun filled evening. In case anyone forgets Valentine’s Day, here is your chance for redemption.  Please contact PGK Matt Lucien at (916)382-9727 for reservations or  leave a message on the hall phone at 916-736-0953.

This year’s Pasta Dinner will be held on Thursday February 27. This is a fund-raiser to benefit the Sacramento Life Center and the Bishop Gallegos Maternity Home.  For reservations or to volunteer to help out please call: PGK Ricardo Saldaña (916) 712‐7355 or leave a message on the hall phone at 916-736-0953.

Please consider wearing your Knights of Columbus name badge when you are at church, especially when you are volunteering your time. This also includes when you are helping out at the school if your parish has one.  This is a great opportunity for the members of your church to see the Knights of Columbus in action. Perhaps you might pique the interest of a potential candidate for our order.

Thank you.
Go! Make a difference…
Fred Struck
Grand Knight council 953