St. Gregory s Council CHARITY UNITY FRATERNITY PATRIOTISM District 77

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1 St. Gregory s Council CHARITY UNITY FRATERNITY PATRIOTISM District 77 IN SERVICE TO ONE, IN SERVICE TO ALL EDITOR: Carl Galante Nov./Dec Officers 2016/2017 Chaplain.Fr. Leon Biernat. Grand Knight.....Matthew Girard Deputy Grand Knight.Lee Butler Financial Secretary...Steve Szumigala Treasurer...Michael Nunziato Recorder.....Tony Pietrocarlo Advocate.....Jim Handley Warden....Richard Halstead Chancellor......Vacant Inside Guard...Jerry O Sullivan.. Outside Guard...Thomas Ahearn Trustee 3..George Tirabassi Trustee Lee Butler Trustee1...Brian Lane District Deputy....Gregory Traves Insurance Field Agent...Thomas Behan Knights and Friends Knight Out II Thursday Nov. 17th 7pm Tully s Main & Transit next to Brennan s. Join the brother knights of St. Greg s as we meet, greet & get acquainted with fellow knights who you may not have met. Light foods will be served compliments of your council. Knights are encouraged to bring along a friend who may want to find out about us. Sabres vs Tampa Bay Lightning is the featured game. Call coordinator Bob Spada with questions GRAND KNIGHT S REPORT Membership On The Move Worthy Council Members in sticking with the original plan of growing the council, I wanted to say congratulations. So far this year we have added 6 new members and with your continued help we are on the move to hit our membership goals. Each of you should be commended at doing a fantastic job assisting in the addition of new knights to the council, and making it feel like a place to belong! Second, I am so very grateful to all who helped this past Wednesday at the Inter-Council degree held at Bishop Benicasa Council. Kudos go out to the following 1 st Degree Team Members and the roles they played: Ryan Tomko (Degree Team Captain), Sam Panepinto (Assistant Degree Team Captain), Grand Knight (Matthew Girard), Deputy Grand Knight (Gregory Traves), Chancellor (Roberto Arana), Warden (Ryan Tomko), Inside Guard (Tom Benicasa Council), Outside Guard (Tom Ahearn), Music Men (Jim Handley + One other member from Benicasa Council), and last but not least our F+B Team Assistant (Brain Reddan). Keep up the great work. More degrees to come soon! Third, A Heartfelt Welcome to the following new knights in our Council: Sam Panepinto (3 rd Degree transfer from Our Lady of Hope), Rod Tobin (3 rd Degree, PGK, PDD from Monsignor Calahan Council in Yorkshire (Tri-county area)), and Brian Reddan (3 rd Degree transfer from Colorado). Also please congratulate our newest Knights that have earned their 1 st Degree. They include Rich Maclean, Jim Neuner, and Paul Kantor. Welcome Aboard it is great to have you part of the organization. Finally, on behalf of our Council Officers and myself we would like to wish all council members a Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. This will be the last newsletter of 2016! Wishing everyone a blessed Fraternal Year with more excitement and changes on the horizon in Fraternally Yours, Worthy Grand Knight Matthew E. Girard 1

2 Newsletter Deadlines Jan-Feb Mar-April May-June Jan. 2nd Mar. 6th May 1st Don t hesitate to call or with any comments or suggestions. A newsletter is always a work in progress. Editor: SK Carl Galante cookie.9ball@yahoo.com WNY Chapter Officers President.. Tom Castle tecastle@hotmail.com Vice President.Tony Pirrone... Treasurer...Sebastian Passanese Secretary...Robert Davis Meetings are the last Friday of the month. All are welcome! November CURRENT EVENTS Past & Present 6th Sun. Fr. Leon Biernat Vestments Presentation Mass Just before the 12:30 mass our council presented Fr. Biernat with a set of Vestments with the K of C logo on it. Our Color Corps were on hand to escort the priest into mass and be on hand for the presentation. Knights, their family and friends were invited to be part of Fr. Leon s special blessing and to let him know how proud we are to have him as a 3rd Degree knight in our council. Thanks to Color Corps members Matthew Girard, Jerry O Sullivan, Steve Szumigala, Bob Spada, Vern Anderson& Carl Galante. A special thank you to our Color Corps Commander Tim O Hara & his right hand man John O Mally. 6th Sun. Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser Coordinator: Bob Moses Once again thanks to our Brother Knight Bob, the breakfast was perfect! Bob tells us 27 volunteers showed up for duty. He wants to thank his crew of volunteers. They did an outstanding job!! 9th Wed. 1st Degree Ceremony St. Aloysius Church (Cheek.) Sponsored by Bishop Benecasa Council in conjunction with our council. (see Grand Knight report pg. 1) December 10th Sat. St. Greg s Advent Party 1:30-3pm Family Fun for all members and their families and friends. St. Nick will be appearing. Coordinator: Brian Lane

3 MEMBERSHIP CORNER It is with much happiness and excitement that our council has created a new position of Membership Coordinator, Joseph Mazzawi. This Interim position will report directly to the Grand Knight, in replacement of the Membership Director (currently held by Gregory Traves). This change will help provide better support for our District Deputy and his many duties outside the council. From time to time, Greg may still advise the committee, but for now the council wishes him well during this transition. To keep the mission alive at St. Gregory s Council 14687, it is important to invite, and encourage men to become members of our order. Please help our council to perform this task, and support Joe in this new roll. He can be reached at anytime via his (jmazzawi@gmail.com). As a result of our membership drive on 10/8 & 9, the following new members have joined us! Rich Maclean Jim Neuner Paul Kantor Welcome to our newest members! 3

4 WEB COMMITTEE REPORT-Patrick Donaldson We have a new website up: Trustee & web co-chairman Brian lane has helped Patrick put it together. TJ Lukasiewicz was instrumental in assisting our council with finding the host called UKnight. WEB-SITE COORDINATORS: Patrick Donaldson donaldson83@gmail.com PGK Brian Lane We will begin posting council events on the website. We will have pictures of the Eagle Scout Nativity Project & Pancake Breakfast and other events on our site. It is the councils hope that this site will serve as a recruitment tool in order to reach the younger men of the Parish. Members can click on the Member s area, at the left of the homepage, then log in with their member number and birthdate. One additional benefit of online access is entering council volunteer hours that will be used to complete the Fraternal Survey due at the end of December. (see pg.9) At the next council meeting, Patrick plans to show us a video production on how we can use the website. NOTE: ATTENTION BUSINESS OWNERS The council is currently looking for businesses to sponsor our site. Any knights who know of any businesses that would like to advertise with us, are welcome to speak with Patrick. Any support will assist in subsidizing ongoing costs for the website at $150/year. St. Greg s Council Joins with Boy Scouts to Purchase Nativity Scene and Transporter Presented to our council officers & then to the general assembly, Brother Knight, Bob Judge came to us with a request for funds and presented his request to our council to partially fund the Eagle Scout Nativity Project (led by Eagle Scout Joey Smycznski), specifically, $1570 for the trailer that houses the display. The scene will be displayed in front of our Church for people to visit or drive by and will be illuminated at night. Bob wished to see St. Greg s among the Churches in WNY to have their own Nativity to display during the Christmas season. According to Bob, there are two benefits to our Parish: for the Church, the opportunity to evangelize people during the Christmas holiday; and for the Knights, a lighted display is a great instrument to recruit new Knights. Bob thanked the council for their support. 4

5 4th Degree Trinity Assembly 726 4th NY DISTRICT POINT OF CONTACT GREGORY TRAVES TRINITY OFFICERS Faithful Friar Fr. Paul from St. Stevens parish Navigator.Norman Goupil Comptroller Alex Cunningham, PFN CCC Dan Hartman Meetings are the 3rd Monday of the Month at rotating assemblies. Request for Color Corps 11/19 Sat 4:30 Confirmation Class (attended by the Bishop) Our Lady of Peace Main St. This request comes from our St. Greg s Color Corps Commander Tim O Hara who has always been there for our council. 12/10 Sat. 6pm Trinity Assembly 726 Christmas Party St. Pius North French Rd. Call FN Norm Goupil Monthly Meeting: Nov. 21st Mon. Mary Star of the Sea Dec. 10th Sat. Christmas Party St. Pius $10 per person, anyone can go. All degrees are invited. Of course, family, friends & children are invited. A $10 gift exchange will take place. If these kind of events with the Color Corps present look interesting to and you would like to be a part of these fine men, call FN Norman Goupil (home) , (cell) or nbgoupil@yahoo.com 5

6 Bits & Pieces C & B TICKETS ( Charitable & Benevolent) As an experiment, the council was selling C & B tickets at this past Sundays Pancake Breakfast 11/6. To our surprise, 25 books were sold at this event. 25 BOOKS complete! Who would have thought! The drawing for this state fundraiser is 12/3. Good Luck!! K of C Polo Shirts Orders were taken & 1st shipment of shirts were delivered. Coordinated by our District Deputy (DD) Gregory Traves. The shirts are black, collared & with embroidered stitching of our K of C logo & names. To order call our DD Bottles for Babies (Harvest House) Coordinated by Dr. Michael Noe. As a follow up to our Baby Bottles Project in the Spring, Dr. Noe coordinated a second effort here in the Fall. Thanks to those members who brought in the bottles filled with lose change and even better filled with checks and paper money. All proceeds to benefit Harvest House. Harvest House is an inner city home for unwed mothers. Coats for Kids As our tradition, every Christmas season our council orders boxes of winter coats for kids. They are ordered directly from Supreme. Our council takes 4 cases for both male and females. The coats will be presented to the Family to Family Christmas St. Greg s Dec. 13th Tues. Guide to Voting Catholic Brian Metcalf, our evangelization coordinator sends out his thanks to the volunteers who assisted him in handing out the Guide to Voting Catholic after the 10/10 4:30 mass. Soccer Challenge Coordinated by Jim Handley, we hosted the District Soccer Challenge on Sunday, Oct. 2nd, with 10 participants representing 3-4 councils in WNY. There were 5 winners from our council, 4 came in First Place. Our winners moved on to the Knights of Columbus Soccer Challenge at West Point, NY. Thanks to all Knights & their families who helped make The Challenge such a success! 6

7 Field Agent Thomas Behan Direct Line Life Insurance As a Gift? The initial reaction for many people when you mention life insurance as a gift is a quick step back and a questioning stare. How morbid, they think. While it may seem that way when you first mention it, life insurance is really a thoughtful gift that can be a financial life preserver in tough times. The problem with life insurance is the general perception. Many think of death instead of the great benefits it provides, and the security that it offers even while you re alive. Life insurance should be thought of as a precautionary protective measure for a family unit. The purchase of this product can mean saving your home, sending your children to college, and preserving your spouse s quality of life in the event of your death. One of the times you may want to purchase life insurance for someone is when a family has a new baby. It s a great, low-cost way to set money aside for the future (i.e. college tuition, housing, business start-up, etc.). Of greater importance, it ensures these children will have insurance as adults, in case an illness later in life makes him or her uninsurable. Newlyweds are also ideal recipients for life insurance. As they join their lives and financial responsibilities, young couples need to make sure that their early investments are fully protected. If something were to happen to one of them, the other may be faced with serious financial hardship. A life insurance policy is an ideal way to ensure their future and protect their assets. As nontraditional as it may be, life insurance is a wise and caring gift to purchase for many people. Call me any time for more information, Field Agent Thomas Behan tjbehan59@gmail.com 7

8 Sunshine & Bereavement Coordinators: Thomas Ahearn & Tim Spellman These 2 knights will be handling all requests for prayers & to report on our Brother Knights who may be in distress & in need of prayers. In our thoughts and prayers: Jim Jager - recovering from surgery & now in rehabilitation, doing just fine. Fred Riechmiller - has moved into Elderwood Nursing Home. Charly Donner - receiving treatment for leukemia call In the poor and outcast, we see Christ s face; by loving and helping the poor, we love and serve Christ. -Pope Francis - Columbian & Founders Award Our council represented by PGK George Tirabassi, was given the Columbian Award for charity works throughout the year and the Founders Award for meeting membership goals. GK Matthew Girard, PGK George Tirabassi & DD Gregory Traves 8

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