Report for the Month GA, Wisconsin
As we look to the next three months, our hope would be to bring in more families to our Knights of Columbus fraternal Benefits nights. How can we do this? Well, it’s all about getting creative by curating live social events as well as finding ways to have events that take place following Mass services. We want to invite everyone to participate and unlike the way we used to have council meetings and degree ceremonies, we now have opened our doors wide to all these events to help people understand why the Knights exist and why they should be apart of your council.
Not too long ago, I had a State Officer speak with me about how the Knights are perceived at local events. His comment was that other insurance companies make a point to give a check to the event saying $100 dollars or $200 dollars. He commented that the Knights’ never do that. He said he knew why but asked me to explain it so anyone would be able to understand. I explained that it can be very confusing to most of the non-knights of Columbus families because they are unable to see that we are the ones that the Local Councils rely on to do most of the work for an event. We are the ones who purchase, cook, and serve the food. However, without the visual cue of seeing a check being presented before the event we are seen as being less supportive. Without seeing the hard work and heavy lifting as well as the behind-the-scenes financial support we provide we are not allowing parishioners to see our full contributions. For example, often, the Knights may contribute after an event is concluded and the attention to contributions aren’t as celebrated and the contribution feels less important. We as the Knights must do a better job, reporting the true impact we had on those events, both in the bulletin and to those receiving the funds.
A great and LOCAL example of that happening right now is that the Knights of Columbus of Wisconsin are giving $117
thousand dollars to local communities across Wisconsin for the Culture for Life. The 32 clinics and groups are all receiving checks in October. We will be posting pictures of these different Culture of life groups on the state’s Facebook page along with posts about who submitted grants to help them with their missions that truly align with the Knights of Columbus mission as well. As we look to share what we do and how we do it, we need more people understanding that we are very active in all our churches. One last thought on that, I had heard a quote that only 8% of the local parish do 100% of the work in that parish. I challenge you to look closer, of the 8%, 70% of those families are Knights of Columbus families, doing Charity, Unity and Fraternity at a high level. So, invite all those you can to come and discover the Knights of Columbus and we will grow to a whole new level.’
Our Next Live Event will be November 9th State Wide, ask you field agent for more details.
Vivat Jesus,
Tim Nowak
