Geneseo Knights of Columbus - Council #7817
Events Gone By

We held our monthly business meeting with 11 members present. We were informed of the winner of the Knights of Columbus Scholarship which will be awarded to a graduating Senior at the Graduation Mass, 10:30am on Sunday, May 18. Please plan on attending so you can honor the graduating seniors, and the recipient of this award!

The council was reminded that we will be donating $500/yr for 5 years (a total of $2500) to the Parish Hall Building Fund. Letters of thanks were passed around from the group that receives money from our MRLD drive. The money went to purchase supplies for the Life Skills Program and for a field trip to the Chicago Shedd Aquarium. The group went to the Hancock Building and saw the city from the 94^th floor and walked downtown streets, giving them exposure to the big city and pedestrian signals.

An annoucement was made that tickets were available for the St. Louis Cardinals vs. the Atlanta Braves baseball game in St. Louis on Sunday, Aug. 24, at 1:15pm. The tickets are $32, and if you are interested, please contact the Grand Knight. Reservations must be made by August 10^th.

The members were given an update on the Gold Outing, scheduled for July 19^th, and that the Annual Tootsie Roll drive will start at the Football game on Friday, Sept. 26. See our Upcoming Events page for details about any of our upcoming events.

Finally, members were asked to visit the "Keep Christ in Christmas" fundraising website.

Our Steak Fry was enjoyed by the 9 knights. Most brought steaks to enjoy, but there was also some pork chops and fish that were grilled. We shared some potato salad and chips.

Our shortened business meeting was called to order around 7:35. Discussion followed about having another fundraiser, since we are now going to be donating $500 towards a new scholarship each year, and another $500 towards the Church building fund each year for the next 5 years. Ideas from holding pancake breakfasts between Mass on Sunday and selling magnets for "Keep Christ in Christmas" were discussed. (If anyone has other ideas, please feel free to contact our Grand Knight.

It was brought to the attention of the knights attending that we have received another thank you note from the Life Skills class at the middle school. They sent along the picture of the class in Chicago shown to the right.

The Golf Outing coming up on Saturday, July 19th, as discussed. Ideas for raising more money were suggested, such as paying for the longest drive, or the closest to the pin, etc. It was noted that we can invite the women to attend the outing, also. For more information on the golf outing, please check our Upcoming Events page.

Finally, our District Deputy, Tony Scott, gave us his report. He noted that we were well on our way to earning the Columbian award. We just need to make sure we kept up the work we are doing, and file our paperwork on time. We also need to fill out the new officers form and make sure it gets submitted. He noted that there is going to be a 1st Degree ceremony at the St. Ambrose Council on Thursday the 10th. We are to give Tony or John Laughlin a call if we can any new members that need to take the 1st Degree.

Out meeting was adjourned at 8:15.

Our Monthly business meeting was opened at 7:00pm with an "Our Father" and the Pledge of Allegiance. A report from our Financial Secretary was given. our Grand Knight then gave his report. There is to be a Major degrees ceremony on Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Spalding Center in Peoria. The first degree will begin at noon, with the second and third degree ceremonies to follow.

The Grand Knight then passed out the "Keep Christ in Christmas" car magnets that our council will be selling as a fundraiser. The funds from selling the magnets will be used for our Church's facility expansion project pledge. If you would like to sell some, please contact our Grand Knight.

Our Council will also be sponsoring a Spelling Bee through the St. Malachy Parish School. It was suggested that we give plaques to the winners.

The MRLB Tootsie Roll drive will occur on the 26th and 27th of September. We will be passing out Tootsie Rolls at the football game the week before, Sept. 19, at both the JV and Varsity games. If you are able to help, please contact Bryce Maertens by phone at (309) 944-9495 or by email at maertensbrice@johndeere.com.

Our Chili supper will be held at the next business meeting, Oct. 14, held at 6:30pm. Please bring a can of Chili to add to the pot.

We will be holding a 1st degree ceremony at the Nov. 11th business meeting. If you know of a good Catholic man who would like to become a Knight, please bring him to the November meeting.

We will have our annual Right-to-Life Coffee on Sunday, October 26, after both the 8:15am Mass and the 10:30am Mass. The members will be contacted about donating either baked goods or a cash donation. Last year's Coffee brought in around $350 which was donated to a couple of groupd in the Quad-Cities.

Our District Deputy Tony Scott gave his report, during which he reminded us that we are to recognize Sept. 11 as World Day of Prayer for Peace. The meeting was closed at 7:40pm with another prayer.