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 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 13th beginning with a light food fare at 6:00 PM, followed by an Officers Meeting at 6:30 PM and the Membership Meeting at 7:00 PM in the basement of St. Olaf’s Gallager Center. Our following meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 10th.

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.

It Pays to Attend!

We’ve started a Membership Meeting attendance incentive where, if you are present and your name is drawn at the end of the meeting, you win! Brothers Tom Arnesen and Brian Dougherty would have taken the pot during the last 2 drawings. Unfortunately, they weren’t among us so the pot has now grown to $30.

Our Officers

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

Scholarship

Our scholarship committee has announced that Kate Carver was awarded our 2026 Scholarship. Congrats to Kate!

Tootsie Roll Drive

Well done to Brother John Rebar and Jesse Viger who led a very successful Tootsie Roll Drive on September 19 where several Brother Knights raised $1,494 to benefit Washington Special Olympics and KC HELP. Well done and Thank You everyone who was able to spend a little time on a Saturday to help others!

Roadside Cleanup

We will conduct our quarterly roadside cleanup on October 10th. We will meet at St. Olaf’s at 9 AM and carpool to the site from there. This is a quick project if we at least 8 Brother Knights are able to participate. We should be done by noon if that is the case. Please mark your calendars and come along!

Memorial Mass

Brother John Rebar has begun preparation for our annual Memorial Mass to remember and pray for our departed Brother Knights. He is sending out invitations to the widows and families to join us for Mass and tolling of the bell on November 6th at 11:00 AM, followed by a reception luncheon in the Parish Hall. Please come and join us.

Coffee and Donuts at St. Cecilia

Largely because our Council has been so successful with Coffee and Donuts at St. Olaf’s, we’ve been asked to do the same at St. Cecilia’s starting on October 18th. If anyone would like to help with this, please contact Larry Devlin or Allen Beck as we work to staff this new effort.

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 the last 12 Months KC HELP has provided 6,604 items to 3,570 people totaling $1,781,030 in value, $2,391,031 when including hours and mileage.

Inception to date, KC HELP has provided 21,399 items to 11,458 people totaling $6,203,385 in value, $7,245,587 when including hours and mileage.

KC HELP was recognized by the Kitsap Community Foundation with the 2026 Exemplary Nonprofit Service Award on June 5th as a testament the value that our community sees in the incredible work of our many volunteer members of the Knights of Columbus and other volunteers who have joined in. The video below was the lead-in to the presention.

If you would like to help get our building in Bremerton paid off, please consider donating to the KC HELP Capital Campaign at https://bit.ly/kchelpcapcampaign or by scanning this QR Code:

Birthdays!

Happy belated to these Brother Knights who have October Birthdays 

Knight of the Month

Brother Jeff Pontes was our Knight of the Month in August. Brother Jeff, one of our newest members joined us after being confirmed just this past Easter, has stepped up and taken over the Pancake flipping responsibilities for the last 2 breakfasts. We deeply appreciate his vast previous experience in food preparation that has really made a difference! He has also participated in our Roadside Cleanup effort on a number of occasions, even before he became a Brother Knight. Thanks Brother Jeff for all you do!

Family of the Month

Our Family of the Month is Alan and Maureen Arnesen. Alan has taken the lead on our Coffee and Donuts ministry for the last 3 years, making it look easy! He’s always there, seeting to every detail, making for an enjoyable parish community after Masses. Maureen is a dedicated CCD teacher and mentor to others. We are all deeply appreciative of their unselfish support of our Council and our Parish. They recently became first-time grandparents, expressing the immense joy that comes with that blessing. Thanks to the Arnesen family fo everything that you do!

Assembly 2433

We are working toward  rejuvinating our 4th Degree Assembly by welcoming new members and holding monthly Membership Meetings on 3rd Tuesdays at 7 PM. In these initial meetings, we are becoming familiar with traditional protocols and rehearsing honor guard and sword handling techniques. If you would like to become involved in the Patriotic Degree, please come join us in these initial stages. We have agreed to provide a $200 stipend to the first 10 men toward the purchase of their 4th Degree uniforms so this is a great time to take advantage of a very generous opportunity.

The latest Supreme 4th Degree Newsletter is  here

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 Phil Raether and Fr Albert Arulappan.

Prayers for the health and well-being of Brother Knights PSD Kim Washburn, Troy Kelley, Brian Tucker, David Meier, Nick Ogilvie, Tony DeCarlo, Brian Poppell, Gary Fahey, Jim Kellog, David Lasser, Storm and Caroleen Smole, and Bob Tomas, John Wahlfor’s granddaughter Emily, , Bill Moriner, Nora Bell, Joe Bell’s wife, Steve Reichley and his son and daughter, Ellen Strickland, Mary Therese Bartlett, Leigh Bartlett, Julie Beer, Roy Behling’s wife Karen and daughter’s health, Larry Devlin’s daughter Jane and sister-in-law Gloria, 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.

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