February 2025 Newsletter

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 benefical to our mssion, to attend our upcoming Membership Meeting on Tuesday evening, February 11th at 7:00 PM at the St. Peter’s Residence House in Suquamish. Our following meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 11th.

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

Pancake Breakfast

On Sunday, February 2nd, we will hold our next pancake breakfast. We thank those who were able to help out during last event. We now support breakfast for both the 8:00 Mass and the 10:30 AM Mass. We will need extra help for both Mass times. Setup will begin at 6:30 AM, serving at 9:00 AM, cleaning and re-setup at 10:30 AM, then serving and clean up at 11:30 AM. With sufficient help, we should be able to be finished with cleanup by about 1:30 PM. Please come join us during some or all of those phases. We need you!

We are especially thanful for the several of our newest members for their enthusiasm and willingness to help with this important parish ministry.

Roadside Cleanup Effort

On Saturday, February 15th, we will plan for a KC HELP Roadside Cleanup effort. So, for those interested, please meet at the Saint Olaf Parish parking lot at 9:00 AM. If we have a great turnout, we should be able to be completed by 1:00 PM.

New Members

We held a Charity, Unity, and Fraternity Exemplification for seven new members who joined our Council on Tuesday, January 28th at St. Olaf’s: Tom Collette, Mark David, Jonathan Jordan, Victor Golcher, Oscar Hurtado, Mark Meyer, and Richard Rebar. Holy Trinity Council brought one other gentleman who joined their Council at our Exemplification. We were honored by the presence of our State Deputy, Greg Mahoney, our State Membership Director, Mike Rutland, and by the presence of the families of the new members.

The honoree for this exemplication was our Charter Grand Knight Tony DeCarlo.

Reminder: Dues and Donations

We still have several members who have not yet paid their dues, which were due and payable on January 15. If you are among those who have not yet paid, please do so as soon as possible.

For your convenience, we have several payment options:

  • By check, made out to Knights of Columbus Council 8279 and either mailed to Larry Devlin at 15975 Lindsey Lane NE, Poulsbo, WA 98370 or personally delivered, e.g., at church or a Council meeting.
  • By credit card using our form at https://bit.ly/8297dues or by via QR Code.
  • By going to our Council’s website at www.kofc8297.org and clicking on the “Pay Your Council Dues” link on the right side of the page.
  • By calling me at 360-981-3179 and providing your credit card info for Larry Devlin to input the payment information.

Pennies for Heaven is a fund that supports our Seminarians and encourages vocations. The goal is to give “a penny a day, a prayer a day” for this purpose. Our Council has contributed at least $3.65 per member each year for the past several years to this fund and we appreciate your generosity that allows us to continue to do so. Last year, our members contributed almost $500 toward the support of seminarians. Well done!

LAMB is a program that assists organizations in our local communities that serve those who are most in need, such as the homeless, the hungry, the disabled, the uneducated, and for pro-life. The State Council’s goal is that every member donate $18.82 per year for LAMB, commemorating the year 1882 when the Knights of Columbus was founded. We have rounded that up to $20. Last year, our members contributed almost $1,000 to this important fund and we thank you for that!

On behalf of the Council Officers, we would like to express our appreciation for your continued and timely payment of dues last year! As you know, your very nominal dues are needed for the Council to be able to in turn, pay our per capita obligations to both the Supreme Council and the Washington State Council. This keeps both you and the Council in “good standing” which means that all of our fraternal benefits remain in effect. Your dues are also important and essential contributions to the production of Columbia Magazine, which you receive each month, Catholic advertising, and for Culture of Life causes.

We also ask you to update your contact information and your next-of-kin details. You can do this online using this link https://bit.ly/8297updatecontact

If you are a 4th Degree Member, you may also pay your Assembly dues online at https://bit.ly/2433dues.

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 the last 12 Months KC HELP has provided 4,560 items to 2,262 people totaling $1,339,575 in value, $1,688,852 when including hours and mileage.

Inception to date KC HELP has provided 11,952 items to 6,391 people totaling $3,598,720
in value, $4,083,786 when including hours and mileage.

Two members of our Council, Matthew French and Larry Devlin, along with GK Matthew Thompson of Council 6707 in Port Orchard and our PGK Eric Chamberlin now of Council 12251 on Bainbridge Island recently installed a full-sized room lift to assist a family in caring for their 29-year old granddaugher who has been disabled since birth.

Knight of the Month

We recognized Fr. Mark Kiszelewski as our November Knight of the Month for his support as he manages the consolidation of our Parish Family through the Archdiocese’s Partners in the Gospel. We very much appreciate his hard work beyond providing spiritual direction for all of us! Thank you Fr. Mark!

Family of the Month

We recognized Storm and Caroleen Smole as our November Family of the Month. They spent several hours doing a lot of hard work preparing the St. Peter’s Parish house for the reception following the Memorial Mass for our departed Brother Knights. Their work was very much appreciated by all who attended.

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.

Pray for the health of Gavin Dewitt’s father-in-law, Mark Stearns, John Ogilvie, Ellen Strickland, Mary Therese Bartlett, Leigh Bartlett, Julie Beer, Karen Behling, Tony DeCarlo, Larry Devlin’s sister-in-law Gloria Devlin, Gary Fahey, Jerry Goodwin, Steve Murray, Emmanual Rivas, Storm Smole, Nancy Rogers, Theresa Spiess, Bob Tomas, Glennyce Thomas, friend (fighting cancer) of John Rebar. Also, we are praying for Jim Kellogg of Council 6706 and a KC HELP volunteer who recently suffered his second stroke.

Please pray for our service men (particularly council members) and service women and our many KC HELP clients.

We also would like to keep Christina Lara and Gabby McCracken in our prayers as they fulfill their FOCUS missions.

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

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