2024-2025 Top Council in the State of Washington

and
4-Star Council

Reminder: Membership Meetings

This is a reminder that if you would like to be involved in our Council’s decision-making or have ideas that might be beneficial to our mission, to attend our upcoming Membership Meeting on Tuesday evening, October 14th at 7:00 PM in the basement of St. Olaf’s Gallager Center. Our following meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 11th. Note that meetings are no longer being held at the St. Peter’s Parish House.

We will discuss events and activities for the upcoming months and would value your input and suggestions as we move forward. Thanks to everyone for all your support.

Our Officers

Chaplain – Father Albert Arulappan
Grand Knight – Mark Maruda
Deputy Grand Knight – Vacant
Chancellor – Brian Tucker
Advocate – John Rebar
Recorder – David Graves
Financial Secretary – Larry Devlin
Treasurer – Roy Behling
Warden – Leo Beer
Inside Guard- Allen Beck
Outside Guard – Vacant
Trustee 3 Year – David Meier
Trustee 2 Year – John Wahlfors
Trustee 1 Year – Alan Arnesen
Lecturer- Gary Fahey

If you would like to serve in one of the vacant positions, please notify Grand Knight Mark Maruda or Financial Secretary Larry Devlin

Breakfast is Back!

Is it ever! We’ve had 2 breakfasts since the last newsletter and both have been tremendous sucesses due to great partipation by so many of you. Many hands truly do make lighter work for all, plus the benefit of great fraternalism. Thanks to everyone who has been able to join us.

Please mark your calendars for upcoming 1st Sundays and come join us in one or all of the various phases beginning at 6:30 AM to get set up and do meal preparation work, at 9:30 AM after Mass for cooking, serving, and restoration, at 11:30 after Mass for the same, plus clean up, which usually lasts until about 1:00 PM. Wear those green shirts!

Parish Picnic

The St. Olaf’s Parish Picnic was held on September 7th after the 10:30 Mass. Many thanks to the Spanish community for the hard work and excellent food fare that they put together. And, thanks to the many Brother Knights who helped with setup, serving, logisitics, and cleanup afterward.

Tootsie Roll Drive

Our next Tootsie Roll Drive is scheduled for Saturday October 11th at the Kingston Safeway to benefit Special Olympics Washington and KC HELP. We will need about 9 men to make to staff three 2-hours shifts starting at 9:30 AM and continuing until 4 PM. We need a few more signups to fill out the remaining slots: volunteersignup.org/W3LFL. This is a very rewarding and gratifying effort where you get a real appreciation for the generosity of our community, Special thanks to Brother Ric Rebar who is our Tootsie Roll Drive Chairman!

Charity, Unity, and Fraternity Exemplification

Roadside Cleanup!

We completed a roadside cleanup on Saturday, Sept 13th where we had 9 Brother Knights join in made really quick work allowing us to be done by 11:30 after having completed both sides of 2 miles of the highway. Many thanks to Brother John Rebar for coordinating this important project for the betterment of our community!

Coats for Kids

Our Council is participating the Supreme Council’s Coats for Kids program this year. We purchased one case of coats with another one being matched by the Supreme Council. The coats will be distributed by our own St. Vincent de Paul Conference to help keep 24 kids warm this winter.

Youth

Many of our newest members are Dads to young children who will be meeting on Thursday, October 9th in the basement of Gallagher Center at 6:30 PM to brainstorm on fun faith-based and community-based ideas that might appeal to their children. We look forward, as a Council, to support this important effort being led by Brother Asa Rubman. If you’re a father of youngsters, please come join us and bring your ideas and energy with you!

Virtus Training through the Archdiocese of Seattle

Our Knights of Columbus Council 8297 at St. Olaf’s who are either being or likely to be a volunteer for Knights of Columbus activities in and around St. Olaf’s or St. Cecilia’s, that might involve vulnerable children or adults, necessitates that you get a background check and complete Virtus training through the Archdiocese of Seattle. So, with that, please create an account at https://virtusonline.org/virtus/ and go through the process of obtaining the certifications. This is in addition to any SAFE training and certifications through Knights of Columbus via Praesidium. They are two separate but similar programs that do not interface with one another so we have to do both. Thanks for attending to this as soon as you can so that we can remain compliant with Archdiocesan requirements.

KC HELP

Our Brother Knight volunteers work tirelessly every day to assist people in need of specialized equipment as they deal with the physical effects of aging or recovery from surgeries or accidents. It’s difficult to adequately express the immense gratitude that we see day in and day out and to imagine how these people might have dealt with their difficult circumstances had KC HELP not been available to assist them. If this is something you would like to be involved in, please contact us at 360-981-3179 to join our other Brother Knights in this essential work. In fact, we will likely be calling for a work party to help get caught up on a mass influx equipment that has overwhelmed our regulars. Stay tuned for for more details.

In the last 12 Months KC HELP has provided 5,151 items to 2,718 people totaling $1,437,415 in value, $1,890,678 when including hours and mileage.

Inception to date, KC HELP has provided 15,283 items to 8,154 people totaling $4,504,080 in value, $5,188,635 when including hours and mileage.

Our Council has been an exceptional supporter of KC HELP, not only through the volunteer work of several of our members, but through financial support. Most recently, our Council donated the proceeds from our last Tootsie Roll Drive!

Happy Birthday to all of these Brother Knights!

Knight of the Month

Brother Roy Behling is our Knight of the Month. Brother Roy is our Council’s Treasurer who expertly manages our finances and works tirelessly to get us through our semiannual audits. Brother Roy is also the buyer for our Coffee and Donuts ministry and arrives very early every Sunday morning to help get the hall setup for Coffee and Donuts. Brother Roy is also one of the first to step up for our Community events, including Roadside Cleanup, Tootsie Roll Drives, and Food Drives. Thank you Brother Roy for all you do for our Community, our Council, and our Parish!

Family of the Month

The Tom and Verena Collette family is our Family of the Month. Tom is a very active Brother Knight while also filling a significant role as the Parish Family Finance Committee Chairman. Verena is a Eucharistic Minister and a CCD teacher. Their son Colin is a frequent altar server and Thomas is in the choir.  Thanks to both Tom, Verena, Colin, and Thomas for all they do for the Parish Community, our the Council, and the Parish Family!

Stay Tuned

Stay tuned for details on upcoming holiday food drives and a Memorial Mass to remember the fallen Brother Knights of our Council.

Good of the Order

Pray for the health of all our Council’s Brother Knights as our members’ age demographic continues to increase. Specific prayer recipients are our Parish Family Priests Fr Mark Kiszelewski and Fr Albert Arulappan.

Prayers for the health and well-being of Brother Knights PSD Kim Washburn, Tony DeCarlo, Gary Fahey, Jim Kellog, David Lasser, Storm and Caroleen Smole, and Bob Tomas. Prayers for Prayers for Wayne Pridgen (friend of Ric Rebar), John Wahlfor’s granddaughter Emily, Mike Gugeon (David Meiers’ friend),the McNally Family (Jim Bayer’s aunt), Bill Moriner, Jim Rebar, Nora Bell, Joe Bell’s wife, Steve Reichley’s son and daughter, Ellen Strickland, Mary Therese Bartlett, Leigh Bartlett, Julie Beer, Roy Behling’s wife Karen and daughter’s health, Lynn Day’s wife Linda, Larry Devlin’s sister-in-law, Anne Wahlfors, Steve Murray, Nancy Rogers, Henry and Cindy Huetter, and our service men (particularly council members) and service women and our many KC HELP clients. Pray to successfully retire the debt on property for KC HELP. We also keep Gabby McCracken in our prayers as she fulfills her FOCUS mission during the year. Also, we are praying for Jim Kellogg of Council 6706 and a KC HELP volunteer who continues to recover from his second stroke.

Handy Council-Related Links

If you would like a handy set of Council-related links that you can add to your phone’s home page, try this: bit.ly/m/8297