Next Meeting

Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
St. Mary’s Chapel (lower church) at Immaculate Conception.  Doors open at 7:00.
District Deputy Joe Meehan and State Program Director Mike Gibson will be present and have promised an informational presentation about some new organizational changes at the State level.

Activities Since Last Meeting

1. Adolescent Psych Ward Christmas Party. Thanks to Tim Gruttner, Andy Tivnan, Rich Uber and Rich Kearns for putting on an excellent Christmas Party at the Worcester Adolescent Psychiatric War on Saturday, December 7^th.  Our Knights sang carols, spent time talking to the kids and handed out gifts to each patient.  Special thanks to Rich Kearns for coordinating the tedious CORI certifications and doing the shopping.

(Also shown in the red sweater is S.K. Chuck Forester from Westboro who organizes the overall event which includes the Northboro and Westboro councils who staff a separate party on another ward).

2. Catholic Student Essay Contest. Essay Contest materials have been distributed to the Religious Ed. Director at St. Matthias and the deadline for returns is this week.  Unfortunately, the Religious Ed. Director position at St. Michael’s was vacant right at the critical time, and Fr. Ren asked to take a pass this year until he gets the new director up to speed, but promised interest next year.  We tried hard to set up a meeting to deliver the materials to I.C., but the Principal at I.C. and the curriculum coordinator declined to participate this year.  Thanks to Dale Dolesh for coordinating at St. Matthias, and Tim Gruttner at St. Mike’s.  The submitted essays will be graded this week by a panel of religious ed instructors.

Program Update.

1. Coats for Kids. We ordered three cases of coats and they are at State Headquarters in Needham ready for pick up.  Unfortunately, I was unable to connect with Russ Steinbach last week.  If anybody has a couple hours free this week, please let me know.
2. Free Throw Competition.  The Free Throw Competition is on track for success.  Neil Cronin has begun the process of coordinating with the City for a venue, and the Lt. Whitcomb school looks like a solid possibility.  Neil has all the promotional material from Supreme and is in the process of talking it up with youth basketball coaches to find the best weekend.  When the time comes, we will need some bodies to staff a check-in desk, snack table, and run the individual events.  Looking to be April or so.
3. Literature Kiosk. We are still looking for a volunteer to man this program.  It involves stocking a small display of booklets and literature in the back of the church.  All the initial materials will be obtained from Supreme, and thereafter it would involve only about an hour or two a month just restocking and reshelving.  Later, once it’s up and running, we could obtain some other-sourced material from reliable publishers (which would have to be coordinated through the pastor).  This will enhance our visibility and would have good recruitment potential.
4. State Raffle Tickets. I am informed the DD will drop off state raffle tickets this month.
5. Special Olympics. Rich Pulice is organizing an event called the Polar Plunge on February 15, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. at the Special Olympics of Mass. (“SOMA”) headquarters on Forest Street.  Mark your calendar, we will need some bodies to help out.  Rumor has it, if you sign up early, you can get an easy job instead of being dunked.

Upcoming Events

1.            McSweeney Christmas Party.  Saturday December 14, cocktails 6:30, Dinner 7:00, Westborough K of C Hall on Willow Street.  Please bring a dessert.  Yankee Swap: Gift value anywhere between$10-15 approx (please wrap, and mark as either Male or Female) .  $20.00 per person.  RSVP to Mike Gibson by December 10^th.  Or just  holler over to him Tuesday night.

If you have any news to report, email GrandKnight@kofcmarlboro.org.

Vivat Jesus.

Mike Tremblay, GK