April 2004

Dear Brother Knights,

April has rushed upon us and we are preparing for the end of the Columbian year. Elections are just around the corner in May, which means that nominations will be this month at the general meeting. Our Worthy Chancellor Bro. Mitchell Smith is conducting the nominations, and is well on his way to having someone’s name standing in each executive position. That isn’t to say that you should not stand up and let your name stand if you are interested in holding a position. All the annually elected positions are up for grabs. In case you are unsure of which ones these may be they are as follows:
Grand Knight Deputy Grand Knight
Treasurer Recorder
Chancellor Advocate
Trustee 1, 2, 3 Inside Guard
Warden Outside Guard
*The Financial Secretary is a 3-year term appointed by State

If you are interested in any of these positions or are unsure of just what is involved in any of them, then please take the time this week to investigate. You can ask any of the current executive members about this.

There is of course the position of Program Directors also available. They aren’t elected positions, they are appointed by the Grand Knight. There are five service programs; Church, Family, Youth, Community, and Council. While all the current directors always appreciate the help that they receive, there are two programs that are unspoken for. The Youth and the Community. What happens in this circumstance is that the responsibility of these programs falls upon the Grand Knight to look after. That is a fair amount of work on top of the regular responsibility of your Grand Knight, and subsequently these programs waver.

Then there is the Membership Directorship. What is involved here is making phone calls to let people know about degrees, coordinating drivers, sponsors, and being prepared to speak about membership in the Knights of Columbus. This Director would be someone who would find a way to inspire the other members to bring in form 100’s for new candidates.

And finally there are the chairmen for things that we do. We are still looking for a new bingo chairman to replace Bro John on one of the two teams. You can speak to him about what is involved or also Bro Ed Mailhot, who is the new chairman of the other team.

There are three pancake breakfast teams with chairmen, the hockey camp committee that will always accept help, and the phoning committee who are also looking for help.

None of these positions are there to take the whole workload of any particular program. Instead, they are there to coordinate the efforts of this council to make a difference in our world. It isn’t always clear or easy, but it is never regrettable. So many things occur in and around us as a result of the efforts we make on a daily basis. And I think that we would all be fooling ourselves if we thought that we deserved credit for any of it. God works through many things and I have always felt that the Knights of Columbus are just one of the tools that He pulls out of His toolbox to do the work He needs done. None-the-less we are just as important to our community as any other group.

We are facing the possible loss of bingos as a source of revenue down the road. The State Deputy has made his feelings clear on the status of fundraising within the order as it relates to Casino’s and Bingo’s. It pretty much lines up with what has been stated by many of the Bishops already. The fact of the matter is that they are not saying that gaming activities themselves are evil. Instead what they have been saying is that there are problems that arise socially as a result of addictions to gambling and that as a faith group that works hard to relieve some of these issues and the consequences of them, it seems contradictory for us to give to the same people who’s money we have taken in at these events.

Gaming events will never go away, the problems that arise from them with some people will also never go away. Yes, if we step out of fundraising through gaming events there will be a line up of groups waiting to absorb our vacant bingos. Yes, there are many good things about gaming events and it is never a given that someone will become addicted to them or even get out of control. In fact I think that would be the exception to the norm. There is no law or rule that states that the clergy can demand anything from us as a service club. However, as a Catholic service club, we strive to stay in line with the wishes and teachings of the church. The Knights of Columbus would be no different than the Elks if we didn’t try to be distinctly Catholic. That is what makes us unique.

In this light, it is prudent for us to take a serious look at alternative fundraising efforts. There are a number of options on the table for us, and I’m sure there are plenty more to go over as well. There is the dinner theatre that we ran for the first time last year, the raffle we are currently doing for the FM hearing aid project, the hockey school comes up in this discussion, the idea of running an outdoor street hockey tournament has been tossed in, and currently there is our participation at both the Big Valley Jamboree and Stage 13 in Camrose.

These are two weekend long outdoor concerts with multiple performers that fill the exhibition grounds in Camrose in July and August each year. We have accepted the responsibility of providing workers to sell liquor tokens at the events. Basically what is required are approximately 50 volunteers for each event that will work in 4 hour shifts to total between 16 – 20 hours each for the week. What is in it for the volunteers is free passes and camping on site for the weekend. The dates are for the Stage 13 rock concert Thursday, July 8 – Sunday, July 11, and for the Big Valley Jamboree country music concert Thursday, July 28 – Sunday, August 1. All the volunteers need to be 18 or older, but are not restricted to members of the council or family. What the outcome is for the council is approximately $10/volunteer hour, which should add up to about $12,000 with both events.

I am telling you this because we will be calling around for workers and when we fill the schedule up, the opportunity for those who have not either been contacted or contacted us, will be gone. I have been led to believe that there is a lot of interest in this, in spite of some history with past organizers of the event. Our own Bro Rene Michaud is on the board of directors and has brought this opportunity to us as a council. If you want to get in to this, I am already taking names. Please call me to put your name in, on my cell phone at 721-9777 and leave a message, or call us at home at 387-4286. I aim to fill this list by the end of April at the latest.

Some of you may know that I have currently left my job of printing up in the city. I was very unhappy and unfulfilled there, while both Nancy and I felt that life at home had been suffering from neglect as a result of being away so much. So we were able to save some money in the bank and I have started my own graphic design company at home. It is called Curtisart. I will be doing all kinds of graphics, web design, multi-media applications, art and writing. There is a small group of freelance people that I am involved with that can offset anything that I may not have the skill to do myself.

Why did I feel the need to pass this along to you? Well it has more to do with God than marketing. We had a family in our parish that had such faith in God that they on more than one occasion found themselves following His instructions seemingly without any guarantees of a future to go to. They would quit their jobs and sell their home without knowing what He had in store for them. It could become incredibly stressful for them, but it always worked out better than if it had been planned for months. God would always provide them with an opportunity or solution at the last minute. And off they would go, following God’s call. Now that is faith.

I know that Jesus said that if God takes care to feed every tiny bird each day, that we shouldn’t worry about Him providing for us. But let me tell you, even knowing this and believing it based on Him always finding the way for me in my own life, I am still…uncomfortable in the position I find myself in. Just not knowing what His plans are makes it strange to experience. So what I hope to accomplish here is to ask for you to say a prayer for us. I will be burning up the prayer-waves myself for a while with all the implied spare time I now have.

Just a reminder that this months pancake breakfast will be on the 3rd Sunday as Easter Sunday is on the normal breakfast Sunday.

Keep selling those raffle tickets. I would like to have some people help me sell some at SOBEY’s once or twice in the coming month. If we could sell out the raffle we will know what to expect for next years raffle, and it will greatly help the project that we are working on.

Finally I would like to thank Bro. Shane Knysh and his wife Shannon for putting in so much work on the 40-hour prayer vigil. It was a very spiritually uplifting experience for my family and I again this year. Good work guys. And thanks to all those who participated.

Vivat Jesus
Chris

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