To My Brother Knights and Their Families:

During this time of the year, as we prepare for the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we must remember that it is not the festive season that is portrayed by the world around us. For us as Christians, it is a time of preparation and reflection. Our focus needs to be on preparing for the birth of Christ. At this time of the year we should be spending extra time in prayer, fasting, and charity. Attend extra church services, have a meatless meal once or more each week. Remember the first principle of the Order, charity. Try to limit the celebration until Christmas Eve.

The celebration of Christmas for us begins on Christmas Eve and lasts until January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany. When Christmas arrives keep the celebration going for the entire 12 days. Make the feast of Epiphany a special celebration in your home. We had a very successful Shrimp Dinner last month. We raised over $3,200. Many thanks to Al Picardo and all who helped out with the dinner. Further information about the dinner will follow.

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

In the Western Church, November 1st is the Feast of All Saints and November 2nd is the celebration of All Souls. And so each year, on the first Sunday in November, our council remembers the souls of our brother knights who have fallen asleep in the Lord during this past year. This year our memorial service will be held on Sunday November 3rd at St. George Melkite Catholic Church located at 1620 Bell Street, Sacramento. The Divine Liturgy begins at 10:30 am and the memorial service is held immediately after. I encourage you to come and pray for the souls of our fellow knights. It is also a great opportunity for you to experience the spirituality of the eastern church.

I want to thank all of you helped out at our Tootsie Roll drive, Membership Drives and German Night. What was really impressive to me it that we had all this happening on the same weekend, with recruiting taking place at three different churches at the same time. German Night was a lot of fun and the food was great. Further information on the results of these events will follow.

Don’t forget that our Shrimp Dinner is on Saturday, November 16th. This is a fundraiser for the many charitable works we do throughout the year. I encourage you to contact Al Piccardo to see how you can help out at this event. Make plans to come to the dinner and bring some friends. This is a great event and always a lot of fun.

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

To my Brother Knights & their Families,

 October is the month of the Rosary. As members of the Knights of Columbus we are asked to have our

Rosary with us always and to pray it often. On Saturday, October 12, 2013 a public Rosary is being said at Noon at various public locations across the nation. One of the locations will be held in front of Sacramento State University. We will meet at the Council Hall at 11:30 am and then proceed on foot to the corner of Carlson Drive and “J” Street in front of the university sign. I will be there, I hope you will be too. Wear your Knights of Columbus shirts.

We are doing recruitment at four locations this month. First at the Immaculate Conception Festival on Sunday October 6. Also on October 26/27 we are recruiting after the Masses at Sacred Heart, Newman Center and St. Stephan’s. We are combining recruitment with the Tootsie Roll drive at Sacred Heart. We also have a Tootsie Roll drive at St. Mary’s on October 19/20 after the Masses. Please help us out, especially if you go to one of these parishes.

Don’t forget that German Night (Oktoberfest ) is on Saturday, October 26^th. This is a fundraiser for the many charitable works we do throughout the year. I encourage you to contact Tom Nulk or Steve Mills to see how you can help out at this event. Make plans to come to the dinner and bring some friends. This is a great event and always a lot of fun.

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

To my Brother Knights & their Families,

August was a good month for 953. First we served beer at the St. Stephens Pig Roast. Our participation helped to make the event a great success. We also worked the St. Mary’s Festival with our Zippy Bun Booth. I would like to especially thank George Mills, who was the chair for this event, all the Brother Knights who worked this booth, and Dave Carboni for making his excellent au jus.

 We also held a 1st Degree Exemplification during the month of August. We are happy to welcome 4 new members into our council. We have an awesome 1st Degree team, especially George Mills & Matt Lucien who know their parts perfectly and execute their parts with great enthusiasm. Also thanks to Bryan McKrell who filled in as Grand Knight for the degree. It was his first time and he did a splendid job.

 German Night (Oktoberfest ) is on Saturday, October 26th. This is a fundraiser for the many charitable works we do throughout the year. I encourage you to contact Tom Nulk or Steve Mills to see how you can help out at this event. Make plans to come to the dinner and bring some friends. This is a great event and always a lot of fun.

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

To my brother knights & their families,

Thank you for placing your confidence in me to represent our Council as your Grand Knight for the Columbian year of 2013-2014. I especially wish to thank our Past Grand Knight Ricardo Saldana for his dedication and hard work to our Council these past two years.

I joined this Council in 1985 then dropped out due to lack of interest. I rejoined the Council seven years ago but I was not active in the Council. Four years ago George Mills called me and asked me if I would consider running  for Inside Guard. Shortly after that Jess Williams asked me to join the Second Degree Team. We talk a lot about recruitment, but sometimes we just need to ask inactive knights to become active in the Council or for those who have left the Knights of Columbus if they would consider rejoining our Council.

Tom Nulk made a suggestion to me and I completely agree with him. Ask a member of our Council who is inactive to come to one meeting, come to one dinner and to help out at one fund raiser every year. If each one of us did this think of how much better our Council could be.

Many thanks for all who worked hard to make the Past Grand Knight’s/Old Timers Dinner a great success. I especially want to thank Dave Carboni, Terry Corcoran, Steve Mills, Tom Nulk, George Mills, John Sheldon, John Watling,  Matthew Lucien, Joe Miceli,  Ricardo Saldana and anyone whose name I may have forgotten.

Also a big thank you to our Family Director Bryan McKrell for organizing, setting up and cooking hot dogs for the Council’s Family Picnic. It was a very hot day but all who attended had a good time.

We are looking for a Pro-Life Director and a Membership Director for our Council. If you are interested please contact me.

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