It’s been a couple months since my last blog post, and since then, my first fraternal year as a Worthy Sir Knight of Columbus; Grand Knight of JFK Council 5523, came to an end. As the new fraternal year is about to start up in the next coming weeks, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the work we have accomplished in the fraternal year of ’24.
This post of reflection is relatively easy for me, as i’m just pretty much copying and pasting, with some edits, of my Grand Knight’s End of the Year Address to my fellow Brothers of the Order.
For the Fraternal year of ’23-’24, under my Grand Knightship, JFK Council 5523 has accomplished the following :
– The best performance in recruitment and signups and the highest percentage of quota that this council has reached in a fraternal year in 10+ years.
– We’ve returned our revenue back to, and better than, what the council was doing prepandemically. A new method of raising funds was also tested (sponsorships), and it was successful.
– We’ve won the first award in over a decade. The Trillium Award was won for the first time in 13/14 years by our council.
– We’ve donated $28,000 to local charities and non-profit organizations that service our immediate local community + we personally donated 28 brand new jackets to a local catholic elementary school under our Coats 4 Kids program.
– We’ve donated hundreds of hours collectively towards serving the Church and Order. This has been one of the most active councils in a fraternal year for JFK 5523 in recent times.
– We’ve successfully initiated a revival in our council after just one year, with all new Knights onboarding being under the age of 40, with the youngest being not even half that age.
-We’ve inspired a new generation of leaders, having filled up all critical positions of the council. All mandatory officer positions are filled and we even have an assembly of Directors in our council now moving forward!
– We’ve hosted some of the best events in recent times. Even our “worst performing” event was in reality, still a good event (Valentines D&D), with a great financial upside to the council, which actually was one of the most profitable events that the council has had in years. Also, our best event had us seeing and serving a turnout of approximately 250 people of our Parish and allowed us to test out in practice a potential new form of raising funds with what we determined to be a great success as it proved to work well and be a viable model for potential fundraising avenues in the future.
*EDIT – I forgot to mention, I also successfully launched the website for our council right before the end of the year. Check us out at www.jfk5523.org. I made this website myself!*
With all these amazing highlights listed, it’s plain to see why the years’ been great, it’s going to be a challenge to beat. But challenges are fun and I believe our next fraternal year will be better than this one!
A big thank you to all my Brothers. We really shined during the Fraternal year of ’23-’24 because we all worked well together as a team symbiotically. It’s amazing what people can do when we come together in the name of Jesus Christ. My Brothers, “It’s an honour and a privilege”, thank you for having me as your Grand Knight, I pray I continue to serve you all at the best level of my abilities, and more. God bless you all.
'24 2024 5523 Columbus JFK Knights Summer updates Year End Address
Last modified: August 26, 2024
