It is a pleasure to serve as your Grand Knight. I’m confident that we can find ways to grow, serve our community, and make a difference in The Catholic Community of St. Thomas More.

Remember we are linked by a common goal, to love and serve the Lord.

Greetings Brothers of Council 10910…as this Fraternal Year comes to an end, I wanted to highlight some of our successes.

We started the Fraternal Year with good intentions and we set goals that we felt were obtainable. Unfortunately, Covid-19 restrictions made us adjust and adapt goals and ways to meet them.

As many of you know, our mission is based on charitable activities which includes creating fundraising opportunities to support those charities. Instead of having fundraisers such as pancake breakfasts, Lenten fish frys, and Narthex table activities at St. Thomas More Catholic Church as we normally would have, we collaborated with local businesses such as Panera Bread, Brixx Pizza, Jersey Mike’s, Duck’s Donuts, and Captain John’s Dockside Restaurant. These collaborations allowed us to fundraise to support our many charities and our mission.

SUCCESSES:

With support of the Council members, Parish, and the friends and families of Knights, the Council made the fundraisers with businesses successful. The success of the fundraisers enabled the Council to fulfill its financial obligations and charitable activities. The Council also supported or hosted several spiritual events during this past year.

Charitable activities included the following:

• Seminarian Support. Two seminarians were provided with $500 each for their Seminary needs.
• Donation of $500 to the IFC Food Bank.
• Coats for Kids Program. $200 Donation.
• Donation of $500 to the Knights of Columbus Covid-19 Relief Fund.
• Donation of $500 to the STM Financial Assistance Program.
• Donation of $500 to the St. Thomas More School for playground equipment upgrades.
• Donation of $500 to Father Scott for A/V Equipment upgrades.
• Donation of $268 for STM Usher badges.
• Donation of $150 to Catholic Daughters of America.
• Gifts totaling $1100 to Parish Clergy and office staff for their tireless work during this pandemic year. Gifts were presented in lieu of The Clergy Appreciation Dinner which was canceled due to Covid.

The Council also updated and maintained it’s website due to James Davisson’s dedication to the website maintenance. Both Brothers James and Steve Travers maintained our financial/budgetary obligations. The Council recognized Knight of the Month and Family of The Month recipients throughout the fraternal year. We also presented certificates of appreciation as recognized.

James Davisson was also our recipient for the Knight of The Year Award! Please congratulate James when you see him at Church. The award was well deserved for all the Council activities that James oversaw and maintained!

The Council sadly lost several Knights who were key members of the Council over the years. We lost Brothers Jerry Pilarski and Gene Drogos. Both were key members of our Council since it’s inception. We also lost the wife of late Brother John Marino, Jinny Marino. Her funeral was yesterday June 4, 2021.

Council 10910 recently held elections and have voted in new officers for Fraternal Year 2021-2022.

In closing, it has been my privilege to serve you as Grand Knight this past year. I thank all of you for your support. I ask all of you to support our incoming Grand Knight, Greg Kleiman, and the other incoming officers of Council 10910.

May the Peace of Christ be with all of you and your families!

Vivat Jesus

Bill