Brother Knights, I want to tell you what an honor it was to MC the Tribute Dinner to our Past Grand Knights on Sept. 22. Honoring these men and their wives for their dedication and leadership over the past 7 years was a privilege and I hope to follow them in the growth and development of Council 16492.
Over the past three months I have been assessing how we could maintain and improve the outstanding performance of our Council and I would like to share those observations with you.
- A Live Exemplification Committee has been established with a goal of conducting Live Exemplifications around the first of the year.
- A new process revising our initial contacts with candidates will include capturing what we expect from them and what they expect from us.
- While maintaining our focus on charity, spirituality and fraternity, I want our current 284 members to become more involved.
- In the past year we contributed more than $60,000 to Charities including our own Parish. We have three major fund raisers to generate those funds. Pickleball tournament, Golf Outing, and Tootsie roll sales. Only about 40% of our members were involved either as a participant or sponsor in the golf outing. I personally texted every member and asked them to take a slot at the Pickleball Classic in October. We have less than 25 percent participation. We couldn’t fill 18 slots at the two-day Tootsie Roll sale for Citizens with Disabilities at the Sawgrass Publix.
I am so appreciative of the brothers who do participate. Thank you. But 40 percent or 20 percent is just not enough for me. If every one of our 284 Knights dedicated themselves to one 3-hour volunteer opportunity, we could do so much more. And I know many of you are busy with work and family. But I ask this; if everyone stepped up to one volunteer slot, no matter if it is pickleball or the golf outing or standing outside Publix, we could do so much more for our parish and our community.
As dedicated Knights, we have pledged we will help in our many acts of charity. We have committed to the fraternity of our brotherhood. Our faith is our bond. Put the three together and we can do better. I realize that I am preaching to the choir when addressing you who are here tonight but spread the word to your fellow Knights. If every Knight just gave one hour a month, what a powerful effort that would be.
Pete Falcone
Grand Knight / Knights of Columbus
St John Paul II Council 16492
