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From State Deputy Greg Taillon |
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February 29, 2008 - Results of the 2008 Granite Award Dinner and a Great Opportunity for Councils
What a Wonderful Evening!!!
2008 Granite
Award Nominees
John Chasse
Alpha Chevrette
Lisa Christie
Robert Grappone
Jason and Tina Howard
Thomas Ingham
Alan Johnson
Helen MacDonald
Roger Proulx
Charlie and Georgie Regan
Chanel Simard
We are truly blessed to not
only have people like the Reagans but to have many others in our
communities like the other ten wonderful service driven nominees. I
congratulate Charlie and Georgie, but also John Chasse, Alpha Chevrette,
Lisa Christie, Robert Grappone, Jason & Tina Howard, Tom Ingham Sr.,
Alan Johnson, Helen MacDonald, Roger Proulx and Chanel Simard.
It was a night of fellowship, celebration, dancing, great food, great music
and a significant tribute to nominees for outstanding service to their
fellow man. On February 23rd we celebrated our 18th Granite Award event and
with 163 people strong we paid tribute to not only this year's winners
Charlie and Georgie Reagan but also to 11 outstanding
nominees from communities across our state.
2008 Granite Award Winners:
Charlie and Georgie Regan
Their lives and their charitable giving of their time, talents and
efforts provide us with wonderful examples of service to model our lives
against. And that is truly why this evening was so very special to us.
We celebrated Service to Others! We learned from their
example and in some small way we offered our thanks, our appreciation
and our pride to have them working within our wonderful State of New
Hampshire. I would like to once again thank each Council family for
attending that night and supporting this and future State events.
I would also like to express my sincere appreciation for
the Councils that provided nominees for the evening’s consideration. I
believe the 11 is a record or minimally ties the most nominees for any
of the previous 17 Granite Award Events. My Brothers, you should be very
proud, not only of this year's winners, but also for the high caliber of
nominees that were put forth for this year's Granite Award
consideration. The write-ups submitted were first class, with nearly all
being multiple pages of testimony and documented examples of the service
the nominee delivered. Because of the sheer volume of documentation and
the large number of nominees, I appointed a Judging committee consisting
of four State Officers: State Chaplain Fr. Aggie Jean, State Secretary
Ed McCann, State Treasurer Joel Plante and myself, your State Deputy. We
each received a copy of all of the submitted documentation and
independently selected our personal 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices. These were
tallied by giving 3 points to 1st choices, 2 points to 2nd choices and 1
point to 3rd choices. The nominee with the largest number of points
became the 2008 Granite Award Winner.
Special Thanks!!!
Special thanks go to State Secretary Ed McCann and Functions Coordinator
Ed Mele, PSD whose combined "behind the scenes" hard work and
dedication provided a wonderful evening for all! If you attended the
Granite Award Dinner this year, please thank both Ed McCann and Ed Mele
the next time you see them.
A Great Opportunity for
Councils
Both our State Church Director Ed Mele and I, your State Deputy would
like to offer our congratulations to those councils who brought their
pastors (chaplains) or priest in residence to the Granite Award . It was
so refreshing to see them there. And this, is the opportunity mentioned
in the title of this article. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had more
pastors and Chaplains at the Convention Banquet this year? Our priests
are being called on, to take on more and more responsibilities due to
the many twinned and merged parishes in our dioceses. Wouldn't it be a
fitting token of your Council Family's appreciation for their dedication
and service to offer them a night out to enjoy in the fellowship of your
Council family members by inviting them to this year's State Convention
banquet? I offer this for your consideration. Maybe at your next
Business meeting, a motion could be made to invite and pay for your
chaplain or pastor's banquet ticket. Seat him at your Council table(s)
and celebrate the gift of his service in your parish community.
If you missed this year's Granite Award Dinner, put it in your Council
Event Calendar for next year. Bring your priest, and both existing and
new council members. Come as a Council Family! And finally, start
writing up that one special person within your local community to
celebrate them as a 2009 Granite Award Nominee.
Thank you and God Bless
Greg
Greg
Taillon
State Deputy
NH State Council, Knights of
Columbus
February 22, 2008 - Important Request from Fr. Dick Thompson to Support our Retired Priests
Worthy Grand Knights and My Brothers All,
I just received a phone call from Rev. Fr. Dick Thompson, who is the Secretary for Ministry Formation, with a request to our NH State Council to assist the Retired Priests of our Diocese. It is a request of time and volunteers to drive some of our Retired Priests who are residents of the Bishop Peterson Retirement Home in Manchester a few times during the year for trips to the Beach or Mall or simply to go for a ride to get out and enjoy our wonderful state of New Hampshire.
We are looking for a few retired knights or those that might have time in their schedule to be drivers of a small passenger bus. No special driver’s license is required, but a short training session would be offered to learn how to safely operate the wheel chair lift.
Would you please read this request to your Council Membership at your next Business meeting and put it in your newsletter. While this request is primarily for Councils in the Greater Manchester Area, I am also sending it to all Grand Knights, as Council memberships often tend to be spread out over a fairly wide area. There may be a knight who would look forward to providing his services even if it meant driving to Manchester. I would hope that we can get a number of volunteers so that Fr. Thompson would have the most flexibility in scheduling these events for our retired priests.
Those that can assist, should contact Fr. Thompson at 603-669-3100 ext 116 or at RThompson@RCBM.org
I know you all are strong supporters of our priests and religious, so I am confident that we will be able to answer this call of support to these holy men who have served us for many, many years before their retirement.
Thanks and God Bless
Greg
Hi Greg:
A slight complication has arisen with regards to bus drivers. They need to have a “CDL” license (Commercial) to be covered by our insurance. Would you mind sending out this change to the guys so that in making their decision, they can take this into consideration? Thanks.
Fr. Dick
Rev. Richard B. Thompson
Vicar for Priests - Secretary for Ministry Formation
Diocese of Manchester
P. O. Box 310
Manchester, NH 03105-0310
Office: 603-669-3100 Ext 116
Mobile: 603-254-7510
Email: rthompson@rcbm.org
February 8, 2008 - District Deputy #5 Position now Open
Back in December
we welcomed Brother Rick Plichta
from Council #5112 in Goffstown as the new District Deputy for District #5.
Unfortunately due to family priorities, Rick has asked to step down from
this position. While I am disappointed in losing this dedicated and service
driven knight in this position, I understand that family priorities must
come first and so I have sadly accepted his resignation. I wish Rich and his
family well and will keep them in my prayers. While his term was very short,
I would still like to publicly thank him for his initial acceptance and his
efforts to assist the Grand Knights of his district.
Should any Knight know of a Past Grand Knight or
other capable Knight that would be willing to serve in this capacity, Please
forward his name to me.
Thanks and God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
New Hampshire State Council
January 18, 2008 - Can you Help this Derry Knight?
Dan Kelly is a
member of the Derry #3023. He is mentally challenged but works in his
community. He is presently looking for a job requiring light cleanup. His
brother Tom, also a knight in Massachusetts, asked if the brothers of New
Hampshire might know of a job requiring Dan's present skills. If you or your
Council can help please contact Tom via his contact information within his
brother Dan's Resume show here: (Dan
Kelley - Resume)![]()
Thanks and God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
New Hampshire State Council
January 19, 2008 - Our Pro Life Dinner and a Big Thank You!
My Brother Knights,
On January 12th at Sacred Heart Parish in Concord we welcome
Directors and representative from the Crises Pregnancy Centers within
New Hampshire to this first Pro-Life Dinner. The dinner's intent was to
bring together the leadership of our Crisis Pregnancy Centers and our
local Knights of Columbus Councils who have dedicated their efforts to
support the work of these Pro-Life Centers. Having been a Pro-Life
Chairman for many years within my own Council and having worked closely
with the Directors of the Merrimack Valley Pregnancy Care Center, I know
from experience that knowing the director on a face to face basis
allowed our Council to better identify the needs of the Center that we
might be in a position to address or assist.
When I first approached Ron DiStasio, our State Pro-Life
Chairman, with this idea to have forum, it didn’t come together as
quickly as I had expected, but with his continued focus and dedication
along with that of Paul McManus our State BirthRight Dinner Chairman
things started to gel. We are most appreciative of their work and effort
& that of the Concord Council #112 under the leadership of GK Keith
Thibeault for offering to provide the menu, location and forum. Finally
I wish to mention the work done by Brother Bob Jursik in the promotion
of this event. The Pro-Life Dinner Brochure was one of Bob’s
masterpieces.
The following Directors/Representatives were invited and
accepted to be with us that evening:
Barbara Richards- Lighthouse Pregnancy Crisis Center (Center
Ossipee)
Margery Foster- Options for Women (of Dover)
Linda Trask- Care Net of Laconia
Linda Barry- Care Net of Nashua
Kathleen Molway- Care Net of Greater Concord
Priscilla Torella - New Generation of Greenland
Ruthie Ford - Seacoast BirthRight
Karen Dill- Birthright of Manchester
Beth Bissonnette- Care Net of the White Mountains
Marjorie Squire- Pregnancy Care Center of Haverhill, MA
(Serving the Merrimack Valley & Southern NH).
Jackie Hynes- Birthright of Derry
Margaret Burge- Care Net of West Lebanon
Nancy Lucky- Pathways of Littleton
Braunda Butt - Care Net of Manchester
We were very proud to have them at the dinner representing the work done by over 24 different centers supporting this effort in New Hampshire! Many of them spoke to us in very inspiring but brief talks. I then asked the Directors and the Grand Knights present to get to know each other. I asked them to explain the work and future challenges of the Centers they run and to place the faces with the Grand Knights in their area. Many if not all our Grand Knights are already supporting the Pro-Life cause within their local communities. So I asked the Directors to put our Grand Knights and their Council Pro-Life Couple contact information on their mailing list and asked the Grand Knights to do the same. When a need arises, I asked the Directors to please call their Grand Knights with a request to help.
As Christian we are Pro-Life, as Knights we are defenders of the pre-born with respect for all life in its many phases. We (Knights & Pregnancy Center Staffs) have similar beliefs and the same moral obligation to support those in need. As your State Deputy, representing all brothers of the NH State Council of the Knights of Columbus, I offered our active support and assistance to these Pro-Life Directors of our State. Whether or not you attended the dinner, please contact the center in your area and introduce your Council to the Director in charge. Please offer your Council's assistance to these remarkable women and their staffs. They save babies in New Hampshire on daily basis without fanfare or publicity. They deserve our respect, our prayers and our support.
Thanks for listening and for your response to the Pro-Life Cause in our State.
God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
P.S. Below this message are listed all 24 Centers in New Hampshire
Pregnancy Crises Centers in New Hampshire
Bethany Christian Services,
Candia, NH, 603-483-2886
Lighthouse Pregnancy Crisis Center, P.O. Box 305,
Center Ossipee, NH 03814-0305,
603.539.8001,
lighthousepcc@adelphia.net
Care Net PC of the Upper Valley, 32 Opera
House Square, Claremont, NH 03743,
603.542.4747
Birthright, Concord, NH, 603-225-9666
Concord Pregnancy Care Center, 7 Greenwood
Avenue, Concord, NH 03301, 603 224-7477
Care Net Pregnancy Center of the Mount
Washington Valley, 24 Pleasant St., Suite 3B, Conway, NH 03818, 603.447.1118
Birthright, 4 Crystal Ave. Unit 1 Suite 6,
Derry, NH, 03038-2428, 603-434-3000
Options For Women, 559 Central Avenue,
Dover, NH 03820, (603)749-4441
Seacoast Birthright,
Durham Satellite Office, 603 868-1607
New Generation, Inc., 568 Portsmouth Ave.,
P.O. Box 676, Greenland, NH 03840,
603.436.4989
New Beginnings, PO Box 40,
Hillsboro, NH, 603.464.5555, Email:
newbeginnings@hismansion.com
Sure Hope Crisis Pregnancy Center, P.O. Box
771, Hillsboro, NH 03244, 603 464-3299
Pregnancy Resource Center, 28 Court Street,
Keene, NH 03431, 603 358-6460
Care Net Pregnancy Center of the Lakes
Region, 506 Union Avenue, Laconia, NH
03246, 603 528-3121
Catholic Social Services, 16 Cottage St, POB
323, Littleton, NH 03561, 603-444-7727
Manchester Crisis Pregnancy Center, 50 Bridge
Street, Manchester, NH 03101, 603
623-5534
Birthright of Manchester, 307 Kelly Street,
Manchester, NH 03102, 603 668-3443
Care Net Pregnancy Center of Nashua, 34
Franklin Street, Ste. 103, Nashua, NH
03064, 603.883.9355
Pregnancy Resource Center of the Monadnock Region, 75 E Hancock Road, Peterborough, NH 03458, 603-924-8788
Care Net Pregnancy Center of the White
Mountains, P.O. Box 923, 81-A Highland Street, Plymouth, NH 03264, 603.536.2111
Seacoast Birthright, 323 Islington Street,
Box 676, Portsmouth, NH 03801, 603
436-5558
Catholic Social Service, 845 Woodberry Ave,
Portsmouth, NH 03801, 603-431-9448
Catholic Social Services, 23 Grant St,
Rochester, NH 03867, 603-332-7701
Care Net PC of the Upper Valley, 1 Main St,
Suite 2, West Lebanon,
NH 03784, 603.298.6123
December 23, 2007 - State Deputy's Christmas Message
My Brothers and Sisters,
Sue and I wish you and your families a most wonderful and love filled Christmas. May joy fill your hearts, may peace fill your being, and the love of Christ be with you always. We wish you new challenges in the New Year that will provide you with new opportunities to continue to be of service to our Church and your local communities.
Christmas is a time that brings us together as family. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this could be experienced throughout the year? I believe in one way, we do accomplish this through our experiences with the Knights. We are an extended family, but a family just the same. Each time we join together to be of service to our fellow man we share the fellowship of our Christian family. We share our common beliefs, our common morals and values. We work toward our joint mission to spread the Good News of our Savior Jesus Christ. We evangelize through our good deeds, showing other that this is how “Christians act”. In the process we have a wonderful opportunity to welcome other families into this same service and into a closer relationship with our Lord and Savior. This is the real reason, I believe, that attracts others to our Order and likely the reason we were attracted to it as well. Let us attempt to keep this objective clear and foremost in our plans for the New Year. I believe that if we do, we will strengthen our local Council families, and in the process swell the ranks of our Christian Family.
I wish to thank each of you for the service you have delivered these last six months. I have observed new and increased activity in many of our local councils. I have also observed magnificent examples of Christian leadership from many of our Grand Knights. I have seen a new effort to assist and support our local leadership from our District Deputies. They have grown in their ability to coach, mentor and lead by example. This has allowed their Grand Knights to grow in their ability to lead their councils as well. I have seen wonderful service being delivered behind the scenes by our State Officers, Directors and Chairmen. I have also seen individual knights from across the entire state demonstrating a true willingness to be service. These brothers have freely offered their time and talents to their local Councils, to their districts and regions, and to their State Council. They all truly understand the meaning and responsibility of being and acting as Knights of our Christian faith. I am truly blessed to be able to count them as part of my team and part of my family.
I look forward to continuing our efforts to bring service and love to the people of New Hampshire during the New Year.
May God bless each of you and your families.
God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
December 11, 2007 - Welcome a new District Deputy & District Warden for District #5
My Brother
Knights,
Please welcome Brother Rick Plichta
from Council #5112 in Goffstown as the new District Deputy for District #5.
Rick has just been approved by Supreme to serve the remainder of Robert
Jursik's term. Rick has previously served as a District Deputy under PSD
Bill McCarthy's administration. He has 47 years of service in the Order and
also serves in the capacity of Faithful Navigator for the Manchester
Assembly. Rick is a well liked and very respected knight. He has
demonstrated excellent leadership and mentoring skills in both his Knights
and Community leadership positions. We are very blessed to have such a man
of integrity, dedication and long years of service, to step up to the plate
focusing on the needs of his State Council, his district and his State
Deputy. I greatly appreciate Rick's gracious offer to be of service once
again.
In support and understanding of his previous commitments to his Assembly and
local Council, I have asked him to serve in an acting District Deputy
role focusing most of his efforts on three of the District's 5 councils.
While he will still be the focus point for the entire District, Rick will be
supported by a very strong District Warden.
Joining Rick in the service of our State Council and the Grand Knights of
District #5, is District Warden Mike Murphy . Mike is also the
Grand Knight of Franklin Council #12147 and the Charter Grand Knight of the
Tilton Council #11868. He brings to the job a tremendous amount of
experience and success in leading his councils with a focus on Activity and
Involvement. I have asked Mike to assist Rick in his District duties with
particular focus on 2 of the 5 Councils that meet on the same night. Mike
will be able to assist these two Grand Knights with practical and proven
leadership techniques and his extremely amiable demeanor will facilitate the
mentoring/coaching responsibility I have assigned him. Together I am very
confident that Rick and Mike will be a top rate District Team for District
#5.
Please congratulate both Rick and Mike of their new Leadership
Responsibilities and thank them for their gracious offer to be of service to
our State Council.
God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon,
December 2, 2007 - Pro-Life Dinner "An Evening of Sharing"
Worthy Grand Knight:
If you have not already, you will receive very soon an invitation to
attend a brand new State Function which we have been calling the BirthRight Dinner or
simply the Pro-Life Dinner. On Saturday evening January 12th, 2008 you
will have the opportunity to meet your local leaders in the Respect Life
Movement who have been reaching out to women in crisis. You will learn
how our local pregnancy care centers have been building a culture of
life one person at a time. As a Grand Knight you are in an important
position of leadership to not only support this work but to expand the
Pro-Life Activity within your Council. This event will allow you and
your Pro-Life Couple to meet with your local BirthRight / Pregnancy
Support type organization's Director and for them to meet you and learn
about your Council Pro-Life Activities.
This “Evening of Sharing” will help
you better understand how the Knights of Columbus can work with these
organizations in bringing about positive change: how together we can
defeat the Culture of Death. For details of the event follow.
Time: 6:00 p.m. Saturday
01/12/08 The cost is $8.00 per ticket.
Sacred Heart Church Hall, 52 Pleasant St; Concord
N.H.
Italian Dinner served at 6:45 p.m. ,Speaking Program begins at 7:30 p.m.
Objective of the evening:
To increase service to our Birthright type
organizations in New Hampshire and pro-life activity within our Councils
Purposes of the evening:
-
For Grand Knights of councils local to each Birthright type organization to come together to share a meal and conversation with the Director of that organization.
- For the Director of each of these organizations to get to meet with the Grand Knights of the local councils in their area.
To allow the Director to explain the needs of their organization and how each Knights Council can assist them.
- To allow the Grand Knight to explain the pro-life programs already established in their Council and Parish.
Expectation of the Grand Knight:
To
attend with your wife or guest and the Council’s Pro-Life Couple or Chair to
the meal. To provide a small donation from his Council to help defray the
cost of the meals for the Director and their spouse and the expense of the
evening. To listen, learn and develop a working relationship with their
local Birthright organization through the Director.
Put
the Birthright Director on the Council's Newsletter distribution to keep
them informed of the workings of their Council.
Provide
contact information to the Director of both the GK and Pro-Life Couple or
Chair.
Our State Pro-Life Chairman Ron DiStasio and State BirthRight Dinner
Chairman Paul McManus have both been working long and hard to get this
new State Program off the ground and make it a successful State Event.
The host Council this year is the Concord Council #112 and we appreciate
the organization work that GK Keith Thibeault Sr. and his Council have
contributed already. Please help them make this event successful by
planning on attending it with your Pro-Life Chair Couple and other
members of your Council.
God Bless,
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
November 28, 2007 - Granite Award Dinner Announcement
My Brothers,
It's time again to consider placing a name in nomination for
the 2008 Granite Award Dinner. This nomination is intended to
recognize a member of your community at large who exemplifies what it means
to be a good neighbor. A written nomination with testimony from people who
know the individual and their work or news articles, or other documentation
will assisting the people who will be judging the finalist to better
understand the service the nominee has delivered to his/her community.
Nominations need to be submitted to the New Hampshire State Council via our
State Secretary Ed McCann. These can be mailed to him via U.S. mail
to
56 Brookside Drive, Merrimack, NH 03054 or sent via his email
to
emccann777@Comcast.net. If the field contains too many candidates then
your State Officers will come up with a group of finalists. The list and
their write-ups will then be put on the State Website. All State Officers,
District Deputies and Grand Knights will get to cast one vote each via the
system we used last year. Our State Secretary Ed McCann will tally and
validate all votes cast and will be the only one who will know the winner
until it is announced at the Granite Award Dinner.
This year the Granite Award Dinner will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nashua and is scheduled for Saturday February 23rd, 2008. Based on feedback and suggestions from Grand Knights last year and this year we have decided to try something new. As we will all be dressed to the hilt and in a very nice hotel, Knights have suggested having music and dancing before and after the dinner. (To be perfectly honest, I must confess that I heard the same thing from a number of our lovely wives as well.) So we have rented a large enough room in the hotel and booked a great DJ. This should make our wives happy and hopefully all that attend.
To make this evening successful, I will need each of our Grand Knight’s help.
First, get your council involved to identify a deserving member of your community. The only stipulation is that it cannot be a Knight serving in an active leadership role (i.e. Grand Knight, District Deputy, State Director, State Chairman or State Officer.) If a past or former Knight’s leader is now assisting his community and is known by that community for his service, then he can be considered. If you submitted this individual in previous years and they have not won, you are encouraged to update and resubmit their write-up. If you identify some one new, have someone in your Council write up the submission and send it to Ed McCann.
Second, we are shooting for 200+ members and their wives to be in attendance. This means we need you to talk up the program with your Council and make it a Council Family event. If you encourage your Council Officers, Directors, Chairmen and Members to join you and your wife to attend the Granite Award as a Council Family, you will not only help us to make the evening successful, but you’ll also develop more involvement and fun within the ranks of your Council. It will definitely be a Win-Win situation.
So mark your calendars for February Saturday February 23rd, 2008 and start both the nomination process and promotion of this event within your Council! Further details about tickets and the evening agenda will follow.
Thanks and God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
New Hampshire State Council
November 27, 2007 - Change in State Program Director Responsibilities
My Brothers,
It is with great disappointment that I inform you that Glenn Camley will be stepping down from his position as State Program Director as of November 30th, 2007. I appreciate all the service that Glenn has provided to our State Council, but understand that priorities of work and home must come first in our lives. Glenn works as a store manager in the retail space and often has to work long hours even during the non-holiday part of the year. As the Christmas shopping season is now in full bloom, he will be working even longer hours. I have asked him to consider a less time consuming position as one of our State Chairmen. I am hopefully that he will accept my offer and continue to stay active with the State. Whatever his decision, it will be respected.
I am very pleased to also announce that as of December 1st, Gary Wolpert will be assuming Glenn’s responsibilities through the remainder of the Fraternal Year as our new State Program Director. Gary’s organizational, communications and leadership skills have been demonstrated in his roles within his Council, as a State Service Director and as a District Deputy. He has a thorough understanding of our goal to increase Activity and Involvement within our local councils, thus delivering more service to our Church and local communities.
While I know that Glenn will be supportive in assisting Gary during the shift in responsibilities and offering his guidance to allow a smooth transition, you as our Grand Knights can help as well.
The only way we can measure whether we are being successful in increasing Activity and Service throughout our local councils is through these submitted Service Forms. In that, they are very important. In addition to this measurement, they will also provide you with documentation for all your Council’s service projects for use the next time you schedule these events. Finally, as your Council’s leader, your attention to this matter will allow your Brother Knights to receive recognition from our entire State Council Family for their work in your local Church and community. This shows your appreciation to them for their time and efforts. May I offer my Thanks in advance for your attention to these two tasks. “Thank You!”
The next time you see Gary Wolpert, please congratulate him of his new service role in our State Council as our State Program Director. And the next time you see Glenn Camley, please offer your thanks to the service he has provided.
God Bless,
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
P.S. Gary will be continuing in his role as District Deputy #7.
November 24, 2007 - Response to Knights' protest against Pro-Gay/Wed. Politicians
My Worthy Brothers,
First I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday. It is a time of great food, getting back in touch with family and friends as well as a time to ponder how truly fortunate we are in our country of plenty.
I am writing you today in response to protests that occurred during the Supreme Convention in Nashville back in August and most recently in Massachusetts. In a nut shell, hard line Catholics are requesting our Supreme Council to oust knights serving as State or US representatives who vote in favor of gay-marriage or pro-abortion bills. I'm current with these protests as well as the years of disagreement between Supreme and many knights who believed that Sen. Ed Kennedy should be removed as a Knight. I’ve attached the latest news item that has been circulated throughout the internet and sent to many of our email accounts.
Organizations like the Knights, not unlike our Catholic Church, are unlikely to take a hard line on politicians who vote in favor of these controversial issues like abortion, same sex marriage and gay rights. Our Supreme bylaws don't have a provision to remove a member for no longer is fulfilling his duties as a Catholic, once he is a member, nor for voting against Church teachings. So if you are looking for this type of action from Supreme or our Catholic Church, you will likely be disappointed.
This doesn’t mean that we must like this situation or agree with it. I believe that as Knights it leaves us with the challenge to privately and strongly declare our Catholic and Christian beliefs to the public without focusing our attention on how others decide to live their lives. As your State Deputy, I have chosen to also add positive action to those words by promoting Pro-life support by our local Councils. As an example, our new Birthright dinner, planned for January 12th, will bring together the Directors of these NH Pro-Life organizations with their local Council Grand Knights and Pro-Life couples. This will hopefully be a positive event in helping to increase service to these Birthright type organizations by our local councils.
When the topic of same sex marriage and other gay-rights issues arise, I choose to strongly declare what I believe in and why, to whomever will listen. I'm sure that you can be just as vocal. We must remember that we need to present these beliefs in an evangelistic approach. Confrontation and heated debate will not welcome others to our beliefs or our Faith. If you frame your beliefs as testimony in how it has had a positive effect in your life, you will be far more effective.
More powerfully, when there are specific actions we can take that will achieve positive results, especially in the form of service activity, we should be greatly interested. Our challenge as Christian leaders is to serve others. So plan a Pro-Life fund raiser or support our Catholic teachings by helping your local parish’s RICA and Religious Education programs. Just getting embroiled in the debate will not bring any positive results. Those politicians are not going to change their viewpoints until the voters, who voted them in, change theirs. And attempting to turn the gigantic ship of the Supreme Council to a different course may also be a futile effort. I'd rather expend that energy on increasing the level of service we deliver to our Church and Communities.
I’d like to challenge each of our Grand Knights and Councils to plan and run just one new activity during the month of December that supports Pro-Life or the promotion of our Catholic teachings. It can be a simple dinner, a communion breakfast, a local Pro-Life seminar, or a poster/essay contest for Religious Education students, just to name a few ideas. If you don’t chose to use one of these, I’m sure your creativity can come up with something appropriate for your Council. The important thing is that we all do things that bring Service Activity to the forefront of our actions as Knights.
Thanks for listening!
Greg
God Bless
Greg
Greg
Taillon
State
Deputy
NH
State Council, Knights of Columbus
603-382-7239 G.Taillon
at Comcast
dot net
Knights under fire: Pols targeted for pro-gay-wed votes
BEACON HILL -- Accusing the Knights of Columbus of “hypocrisy,” a group of hardline Catholics is pushing for the fraternal organization to toss out 16 “pro-Sodomite” Bay State lawmakers who backed gay marriage.
The California-based Concerned Roman Catholics of America picketed the annual Knights of Columbus convention in Nashville this week and handed out fliers urging members to oust the pro-gay-marriage Massachusetts solons as well as pro-abortion pols.
“We basically want to see the Knights of Columbus expel these men because they’re not honoring the Catholic Church or their vows as a Knight,” said CRCOA president Kenneth Fisher, who is also a Knight.
But Knights of Columbus spokesman Patrick Korten said the group has no plans to boot the Massachusetts lawmakers. Of the flap, he said: “The Knights of Columbus is a strongly pro-life organization. If there are a few members who don’t share those views, that’s unfortunate, but irrelevant.”
One of the pols on the group’s hit list, state Rep. Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop), said: “I certainly respect the right of those who disagree with my vote on same-sex marriage to do so and to advocate for their point of view. It is my hope that they would also respect my right and responsibility as an elected official to, after listening to all the facts and arguments, decide what I think is the best course of action on issues before the Legislature.”
Another on the list, Rep. Garrett Bradley (D-Hingham), said of the Knights: “We don’t agree on every issue, and this one of them. I’m going to vote the way I think is right, regardless of what this group or another group might want me to do.”
The CRCOA Web site has posted the names of those it describes as “pro-Sodomite, pro-abortion Knights of Columbus” on its site, including several Bay State pols.
Among those listed are City Councilors Michael Flaherty and John Tobin and former Senate President Robert Travaglini.
The group also lists the names of 72 pro-abortion Catholics in Congress, including Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John Kerry and Reps. Michael Capuano, William Delahunt, Richard Neal, Edward Markey and James McGovern.
Boston-based CRCOA member John O’Gorman said the Knights should remove any politician whose views contrast with the group’s core Catholic teachings.
“You can’t play for two teams,” he said. “We have to know which team you’re on.”
October 15, 2007 - Welcome to our new State Membership Director
My Brothers,
As you probably know TJ Jean, our State Membership Director, resigned his
position in our State Council due to the demands of his work and family
life. At that time, I sent out a message to all Grand Knights for their
recommendations to fill this important position. I received three terrific
candidates from your responses! THANK YOU!! I believe that all three would
have done a great job. The individual I chose is a Past Grand Knight who
exceeded the membership growth he set as his Council's goal. During the two years he served as Membership Director for his Council, it
achieved Star Council recognition two years in a row. He is currently a very
busy knight within his council, who focuses his attention on Activity and
Member development. He clearly understands the relationship between Activity
and Council Growth. He also understands how Focused Recruitment that is tied
to Activity goals can make a Council successful. I believe he will hit the
road running and be able to make a great contribution to our efforts this
year.
It gives me great pleasure to announce that
Richard Bouchard, PGK
from the Derry Council as accepted my invitation to serve as our State
Membership Director. Please welcome and congratulate him on his new State
Council position. Rich's contact information is already on the State
Officers page.
You will get to meet Rich this Sunday as he will be attending the State
Quarterly Meeting and presenting a short Membership talk.
God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
October 11, 2007 - Congratulation to the Bishop Neumann Circle #4897
My Brothers,
Our Church Director Ed Mele, sent me notice that congratulations were in
order to a very rewarding Squires Circle within our State. The Bishop
Neumann Circle #4897 is to be congratulated for their actions that netted
them the Brother Barnabas Award
from the Supreme Council for their "Turkey Drive" that went to
the local food bank and their letter from Bishop McCormack. They have shown
that it is more blessed to give than receive.
May I also offer my congratulations to their hosting Council, The Bishop
Neumann Council #6949 in Londonderry for their support, encouragement and
adult leadership.
God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
October 4, 2007 - Spot Light on our Grand Knights
In an effort to
bring our State Council closer together in Fellowship and Service, we've
added a new page on the State Website. It's called "Spot
Light on our Grand Knights". A short but "Up Close and
Personal" profiles questionnaire was sent to all Grand Knights
serving the NH State Council who I had e-mail addresses for. The questionnaire
is formatted into an easy to complete and submit PDF form that Grand Knights
can answer with no special computer skills.
Our intent is
for you to get to know these gentleman of service a little better and hopefully
glean a few ideas from them. Selections were not chosen in any order. Each month
we will add a few more until we have a good cross section of local council
leaders. If you are serving as a Grand Knight and have not received the a copy
of the survey from me, please send your request via email, phone or paper
mail. I will either email the form to you or send you a paper copy via U.S.
mail.
To all knights looking toward the future when
they will serve their councils as Grand Knight:
Take a look at these leadership profiles and ask yourself how you might
employ their Activity strategies and the ideas presented for succeeding in
this the most import job in the Order.
God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
October 4, 2007 - Come to the Ball!!! - A personal invitation from your State Deputy
To: All
my Brothers and Sisters of our NH State Council family
From: Greg Taillon, State Deputy
Subject: NH State Council 2007 State Ball
To one and all, may I offer my most sincere personal invitation for you and
your Council Family to join us at this year's NH State Council Ball. This is
YOUR State Ball, because it is
also YOUR State Council. So we
welcome you to this event and ask your support to one our
YOUR State Council Events!
Make this a Council Family event! Plan
on at least enough couples from your Council Family to take a whole table.
It's not hard to do this. Between your Council Staff of Officers, Directors
and Chairmen, a group of 5 couples should be an easy thing to organize and
promote. Don't forget those new members you just welcomed into your Council.
Their exposure to the State Organization your Council belongs to is
extremely important. It is important to their future aspirations to someday
assume a leadership role in their Council as a Grand Knight or Council
Officer. Make this a fun, social activity that brings your staff and
membership closer together as a working group but also as part of the
extended State Council Family they all belong to.
Come and Enjoy the fellowship of your brother
Knights! One of the most enjoyable aspects of our State
Convention is the opportunity to once again renew friendships established
between my brother knights throughout the State of New Hampshire. This
fellowship is the real spirit of our State Convention! So let's bring this
same spirit of fellowship to our State Ball, to our Granite Award dinner and
to all our State Events.
Just some of the reasons you and your Council
Family will want to attend the State Ball this year:
| ☺Come
enjoy the families of our State Council! |
They are Catholics like yourself that have the same morals, beliefs and Christians ideals as you do. |
| ☺Come
enjoy your brothers knights! |
They are men like yourself that have answered the call to assume Christian Leadership to deliver service to their Church and Community. |
| ☺Come
enjoy the fun of the evening |
We have planned a fun social event in a new location, with new music, a new format, a highly recommended caterer, and special activities throughout the evening. |
| ☺Come
be welcomed by your State Officers |
We have a planned a receiving line so that each Knight & Lady can be personally welcomed by the State Officers and their wives. |
| ☺Come
support the local & state charities of New Hampshire |
The State Raffle provides thousands of dollars in donations to both local and state charities. With the exception of the ticket printing costs and the raffle prizes, 100% of the collected funds will be given to local and state charitable organizations and state scholarships. |
| ☺Come
make it even better!! |
We will be surveying a sample of the attending Grand Knights to collect their feedback of the event and to accept suggestions for improvements for the 2008 State Ball. |
I am looking forward to seeing you and your Council Family at the Ball!
God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
September 27, 2007 - State Membership
Director Position now Open
(Thoughts of the role of a Council Membership Directors)
I have just
recently received the resignation of State Membership Direct TJ Jean. TJ
explained that the pressures of his job and the demands of his family life
were not given him the time he believed were necessary to accomplish this
State Position to his expectations. I appreciate TJ's service during this
first quarter of the fraternal year. He most recently assisted the State
Council as a presenter at one of the Regional Seminars and his insight,
ideas and presentation style were very well received.
I will now pray for guidance and insight to find a replacement for the
remainder of the Fraternal Year. You my brothers can assist me in offering
your suggestions for possible candidates for this role. I am looking for a
gentleman who understands that it is not membership quotas that will grown
our State Council, but instead focused recruitment that is based on a goaled
increase of Activity. I'm looking for someone who can speak to Grand Knights
and Council Membership Directors with motivation, enthusiasm and a positive
expectant attitude. He will need to be able to explain how Activity and
Focused Recruitment work together. He should be able to understand the role
of a Council Membership Director (See below) and be able to advise Grand
Knights of their Membership Director's duties and measurement.
In that light, I'd like to share with you my thoughts on the position and
the skills set of your own Council Membership
Director and how they might be successful and measured by you
in your efforts to increase activity and service delivered by your Council.
I have seen in many councils the role of the Membership Director as a recruiter only. A new Grand Knight, when wrestling with the decision of whom to make his Membership Director, is obviously going to consider someone who knows how to recruit. If the position had the title of Council Membership Recruiter, it would be a great choice. But as it stands, that is not the title of this Council role; it is instead “Membership DIRECTOR”. If we change the order of the words of this title, it might help to see its real purpose.
Director of Membership sounds more like a Director of Admissions, like at a school or university. And this is how I see this role. Just like a College Director of Admissions, the Director of Membership should have similar responsibilities. There are four broad areas that I see as common.
1. Setting an Admissions Agenda – a formal plan that ties the Activity Goals of the Council to the overall Growth of the Council.
2. Recruitment Activity - identifying whom to recruit; marketing efforts necessary to attract them, and matching whom we recruited with whom we needed.
3. New Member Orientation – the initial training and planned development to allow new members to become knowledgeable about the organization they have joined and how it operates.
4. New Member Integration – the process for transforming a new member into an “existing member” who is actively involved in the committees, programs and social structure of the council.
Part of our obsession of focusing on new members lies in the need to retain a level of active members in a Council. I don’t know what the exact numbers are throughout our Order, but within the councils I have been involved with it’s not that unusual to have less than 20% of the members in a council who could be considered Active. Let’s be very liberal here in our definition of an Active member. Let’s assume that an Active member is one that either attends at least three events throughout the year, or chairs, or actively works in at least one event in a year’s time. Even with this liberal definition it just is not that unusual to have 75-80% of the membership in the Inactive ranks. If we were able to recruit even 10 or 15% from this group of men to work on the Activity projects of the Council that would help accomplish these goals. So measure the success of your Director of Membership based on getting men to fulfill the Activity goals of the Council and not just recruiting a particular number of new members. While the responsibility of keeping existing members active lies with the Council’s Chancellor, there’s nothing that says he can’t work with the Membership Director to run a few focused drives to attract existing inactive members back to areas of their Council’s service offerings that they may regain an interest in. If we are throwing 75-80% of our members on the Suspension and Inactivity heap pile we can not sustain any level of service. If we need continually to admit new members, shouldn’t someone be asking why? It appears to be an inexcusable waste of talent and experience.
Please be clear on my direction here. I don’t view this as an either or situation. That is, to recruit new members or to recruit existing inactive members. Every Catholic man is a potential leader of your Council, but so are existing inactive members. You have to have both in your Membership Agenda and the need to recruit or reactivate these members is because the Council has something planned for them to do.
Like a Director of Admissions, the Director of Membership’s role includes the orientation and integration of new members into the organization. Just as schools orient their new students to how their school work and how to be successful there, so to should a Director of Membership. Developing a formal New Member Program that all new members are enrolled in at the time of their admissions can help standardize this orientation process. Once developed, the program will be able to be used no matter who the Membership Director is. And what kinds of things should be in this program? It should contain the formal goals, training and planned development for the new members.
Goals could be very simple: meet three existing members each month, meet and talk with a Past Grand Knight of the Council, attend another first degree, co-chair a Council Event, meet one on one with the Grand Knight, develop a personal goal for your participation within the council, etc, etc.
Training could be done in small groups of new members with different Council Officers and could be augmented with a New Member Packet, containing some or all of the following:
· Welcome letter from the Grand Knight
· Current Council Roster
· Copy of the Council’s Bylaws
· Knight in Shining Armor Information Card
· Council Event Calendar
· Copy of the Council’s Newsletter
· Council Mailing List Information Card
· Details of the first 3 assigned events
· Council History
· Assigned PGK
· 3 copies of Form-100
· A guide to making motions for the beginner
· A wife and family’s guide to your Council and the Knights
· Unique information about your Council
· Appointment Card to meet with the Members Development Team
Expand or tailor this package to your Council’s unique needs. Spend some time explaining to your new members everything contained in their packets and answer any questions they might have. Make the contents of this packet and the expectations that are set forth in it, something to be reviewed at the end of every Grand Knight’s term of office. Reviewing the packet will allow new ideas to be added and appropriate changes to be introduced on how the packet is used within your Council and will also allow the new Grand Knight and his new Membership Director to benefit from a reviewed and revised membership tool.
What is the true measurement of a successful Membership Director? Some might say it is the achievement of Supreme’s net Membership Quota. But by now you should be able to view this quite differently. It’s not how many you recruit, but whom you recruit and what you do with them afterwards.
If your Membership Director is correctly identifying the type of men your Activity Goals require and after recruiting them is able to orient them and help ensure their integration into your Council, then I’d say he was very successful.
If instead your Membership Director is your star recruiter and brings new members into your Council with no interest or expectation to support the Council’s new activities/events and who have not been indoctrinated into your Council or integrated into its committees, programs and social structure, then it is likely that these new members are destined to the realms of Inactivity, lack of Involvement without a permanent connection to your Council. Without serious intervention their path to suspension is only waiting the passage of time.
The second aspect of your Membership Director’s performance is how well he has led, organized and made repeatable the membership efforts and practices of his Council.
These are measurement
questions that a Grand Knight can use both to set goals for and to evaluate
his Membership Director.
Thank you for your time you have taken to read and hopefully consider the
use of these ideas. I would greatly appreciate your feedback and comments.
God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
September 22, 2007 - Forms! - Forms! - Form!
Worthy Grand
Knights and Brothers All,
As a PGK, having served in your role for two years, I know and appreciate
your efforts in dealing with forms and other paperwork requested by Supreme
or our State Council. But as your Council's elected leader it remains a
necessary and important administrative requirement you need to keep current
with.
Currently there are 6 councils (Littleton, Franklin 2170, Groveton, Derry,
Newmarket and Hillsborough) that have not submitted their Form #185. This is
your Chosen Officers. It should have been fill out by your Financial
Secretary at your Council's elections night in May or June and then
submitted the next day.
Currently there are 21 Councils that have not submitted their Form #365.
This is your list of Directors and Chairmen. It should have been filled out
(even partially) and submitted in July by the Grand Knight. This is how
Supreme communicated to your Council for Program and Membership helps and
information. You can always submit updates to this form as you complete your
staff assignments.
Currently there are 10 councils (Portsmouth 140, Lancaster, Littleton,
Derry, Columbia, Manchester 4875, Newport, Hampton, Newmarket and
Hillsborough) that have not submitted their Semi-Annual Audit. Not only you
as the Grand Knight, but also your Trustees have a financial responsibility
to complete and submit your Audit in a timely fashion.
This year we have not nagged your District Deputy to nag you about getting
these forms in. We have not done this, because these forms as not the
responsibility of your District Deputy. They are
your responsibility! Because of this, this message is
being directed and sent to you. As your State Deputy, I would ask you to
take this responsibility to heart and personally ensure that all missing
forms are completed and submitted. These forms are available on the Supreme
Web site so you can fill them out and submit them electronically or print
them and paper mail them.
Either way, take as a goal to be among the Councils in our State that have
all forms submitted.
I appreciate and thank you for your consideration to this matter.
Thanks and God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, State Deputy
P.S. My congratulations and best wishes to the following Councils who have
submitted all these forms already

September 13, 2007 - Welcome our New State Youth Director
Please welcome GK Fred
Ouellette as our new State Youth Director. Fred has now taken
over the position's responsibilities from District Deputy Gary Wolpert.
Fred is a Former District Deputy who has served as our Free Throw Chairman
last year and again this year. We welcome his enthusiasm, experience and
positive approach to Youth Activities and expect him to contribute to an
increase in Council Youth Events with our local councils this year.
I wish to personally thank DD Gary Wolpert for being so gracious and helpful
to our State Council for performing both his District Deputy duties as well
as filling in as State Youth Director until we were able to find another to
replace him. Gary will continuing to serve as our Soccer Challenge Chairman
this year.
Fred's contact information:
Fred Ouellette,
State Youth Director
(603) 692-3814
FreddieO54
at
Yahoo
dot
com
September 9, 2007 - Congratulations to our Star and Double Star Council Winners
It is my great pleasure to
recognize the Grand Knights who last fraternal year accomplished a level of
Activity, increased Membership and growth in Insurance Members to earn the
Star Council Award, the highest distinction available to a local K of
C council, for the 2006-07 fraternal year. These councils, led by the grand
knights listed here, conducted at least 20 charitable and fraternal programs
— four each in the five “Surge.. .with Service” areas: Church, Community,
Council, Family and Youth. The councils also achieved their membership and
insurance quotas. The grand knights listed below will receive an
appropriately engraved plaque from the Supreme Council in recognition of the
council’s accomplishments.
Of these councils, Grand Knight Dan Halpin, earned the
Double Star
Council Award for meeting 100 percent of his insurance quota and 200
percent of his membership quota.
In recognition the State Council will recognize these Councils by both annotating a star symbol in the upcoming State Directory and by referring to them as Star Council or Double Star Council during all Roll Calls.
| Star Council Winner | Grand Knight 2006-07 |
|
¶4875
St. Anselm College (Manchester), ¶5162 Rev. Faucher (Hudson), ¶5748 Marian (Manchester), ¶6850 St.Joseph/St. Raymond (Epping) ¶6949 Bishop Neuman (Londonderry) ¶11573 Resurrection (Nashua) |
GK Marcus E. Pratt GK Sean K 0. Neil GK Wayne E. Morris GK David A. Biron GK Richard C. Menard GK Joel M. Ackeman |
| Double Star Council Winner | Grand Knight 2006-07 |
| ¶¶ 12988 Msgr. Donahue (Bedford) | GK Dan D. Halpin Jr. |
This is a level of achievement available to all Grand Knights and I would hope that this goal be one of the Council Goals each of our Grand Knights sets for his Council this year.
The Star Council award in made up of three separate but related goals.
The strategy we have communicated to you at the July State Council Gathering in Littleton was to focus your attention on planning for and accomplishing an increased level of Activity within your Council. Setting a goal of 30 Service Projects (6 for each service area) should be the goal of each Grand Knight. This will not only ensure your Council of qualifying for the Columbian Award (one of the 3 requirements for Star Council) but will also attract new men from your parish to your Council. (People are attracted to Active Organizations!) This will move your Council forward toward the McGivney Award (Another of the 3 requirements for Star Council)
Utilizing your Field Agent to assist you in Focused Recruitment that is fueled by the Activity you have planned for will go a long way toward qualifying for the Founder's Award (Another of the 3 requirements for Star Council). Employing the Knight in Shining Armor Award program with each of your new members will both ensure their continued active involvement and assist you in future membership growth for your Council.
If you haven't already constructed your 18 month Council Event Calendar it is not to late. Remember while we all intuitively understand the benefits of Increased Activity, it doesn't just happen. We have to PLAN FOR IT! Not sure how to get your Council Activity Plan for the ground? Read that section on Activity and Repeatable Practices of the GK Leadership Training book "Toward a More Active Council" you received from your District Deputy and plan to attend the Membership & Activity Regional Seminar to be held in the next three weeks. I can assure you that you and your council will benefit for the ideas presented.
God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, NH State Deputy
August 20, 2007 - Welcome Two New District Deputies Ken Goddard and PSD Stan Polan
It is my great honor to welcome two new District Deputies. First Ken Goddard will be assuming the responsibilities of our Manchester District #12 which includes the Manchester Councils:(92,4875 and 5260), as well as his home council Merrimack(6725). Ken will also be taking on the challenges of exploring a New Council Development effort at St. Theresa Parish in Henniker. Ken is a former District Deputy who served two years under PSD Norm Lemerise. Because of this he brings with him a level of Council/District experience and proven leadership skills. Ken, welcome aboard!
Secondly, we are graced by the continued active service of PSD Stan Polan. Stan will be heading up our new 16th District. This position is aimed at Council and Member Reactivation. I like calling this District our Council Renewal District. Stan will have assigned to him the following inactive councils: Manchester Councils (10857,11089 and12013), Portsmouth(7739), Whitefield(1956), Wolfeboro(6910). Complimentary to this position Stan has also accepted our Council Reactivation State Chairman position. Having served under Stan when he was State Deputy, I know he possesses a very broad knowledge of Council Development and Renewal, and has outstanding communications and mentoring skills. Stan, welcome aboard!
Please offer your congratulations and thanks to both these men for their positive willingness to be of service again to their State Council.
August 12, 2007 - NEW MEMBERSHIP SUSPENSION PROCESS
|
Supreme Board of Directors suspends Membership Suspension Process NEW
HAVEN, CT - Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson announced that
the Supreme Board of Directors have approved a change in the
Membership Suspension process. As of this date, no local council
will be allowed to suspend a member for unpaid dues. Once
recruited and brought into their local council ranks each
member's retention and involvement will become the sole and
continued responsibility of their local Council. |
|
|
|
Retention is many times viewed as whom we didn’t suspend. This is an “after it’s too late” approach. If we call a brother who hasn’t paid his dues for the past few years and attempt to convince him to pay up instead of being suspended, even if we are successful, we are probably putting off the inevitable. A better way to look at Retention is as a process that keeps existing members active and involved. This process is not a subtle difference but one of significant change in both our planning and approach. Saying “Whom do we need to suspend” versus “whom do we need to get more involved” requires a radical change in behavior and mindset by your Council. It also requires serious self-reflection on what we are doing or not doing to have lost the interest of an existing member.
What if instead you were to view the whole process as a Repeatable and Continuous practice of identifying and developing Involvement Opportunities? Let me explain. Let’s say your Council has 100 members and 20 are active in at least two events during the year, then your Involvement Opportunity is 80 members. If you and our staff can call just 25% of this list each month (or 20 members), you’d find out how these members would like to be involved in the Council. Make sure the people who do the calling have a list of current and upcoming events as well as a list of things that remote members can do, without having to be on site.
What if you the Grand Knight and your staff could only get half of these 80 members to show up for a new activity or to accept a task that they could do at home? What a different transition of Retention responsibility this would be in July when the new Grand Knight takes over. Letting the new Grand Knight know that 40 members have been made active and involved again and that 40 remain as an ongoing opportunity for future involvement is a far more positive approach than handling him 40 suspension notices! As the new Grand Knight takes over this process of seeing these men as opportunities rather than suspensions it can continue as a normal practice of the Council. The new perspective views these members as a responsibility to Involve rather than Suspend. These brothers are the responsibility of every Council member. And with that in mind, you and your staff should be working with and encouraging the active brothers of the Council to take on the responsibility of calling just one inactive brother per month. Their job is to contact the member assigned to them and to relate the current events and activities of the Council and ask what they would like to get involved in. You as the Grand Knight and your staff must:
- Identify current Inactive Members of the Council.
- Break the list into quarters and assign a name to each Officer, Director and Active member of the Council each month.
- Document a list of current and upcoming events and activities.
- Document a list of alternate tasks that would help the Council but could be completed at home.
- Keep the list updated as these members are reactivated. If possible print this information on a sheet to pass to each caller. Here’s a possible script you might want to consider using.
“Hi, this is <Your Name>. I’m a brother Knight of our Knights
of Columbus Council. As we haven’t heard from you for a while I’d like to
check in on you to make sure everything is okay.
How is everything going with you and your family?” <Listen and respond
to what they have said>
If there is a need ask how the Council might be of help. Assuming
everything is okay continue with the following:
“I’d like to make you aware of some of the events and activities planned for our Council.” <List the Events and Activities>
The next thing is very important as it asks HOW they’d like to be involved and not IF
“Which of these would you like to join us or assist our Council with?” <Make sure to thank them and tell them you look forward to seeing them and/or working with them again>
The process is painless, requires no more than five minutes a month to complete, and yet has a tremendous impact in the Re-Activation process of your Involvement Opportunities. And finally, it sure beats the alternative of suspending Brothers from your Council.
Thank you for reading and responding to this letter, I hope it will give you new ideas and ways of retaining the members within your Council.
God Bless
Greg
Greg Taillon, NH State Deputy
August 11, 2007 - 'Bella' - The Movie
Worthy Grand Knights,
At the State Deputy Orientation Meetings in New Haven, Supreme Knight, Carl Anderson, introduced all in attendance to the new movie “Bella.” It was a winner at the Toronto Film Festival and is a movie worthy of our support.
All who viewed it were very impressed, especially with the main actor, Eduardo Verastegui and the producer, Leo Severino.
Our Supreme Knight stated, “That it could be about any Catholic family,” as it shows a strong “Pro Life” position, which we support with time and dollars every year.
As this film is made available to our New Hampshire communities, I urge each and every brother knight and his family to view it and than encourage your parishioners to do the same by speaking with your Pastors to get the message about the film to Parish.
Your Supreme
Council and State Deputy are very supportive of this film and I urge all
Knights of Columbus and their families to stand up and do something positive
in your communities.
Go Bless
Greg
July 25, 2007 - Presentations from the July 22nd State Council Organizational Meeting
As requested I
have placed the presentations from our Quarterly Organizational Meeting
here on the State Deputy page. I've converted each presentation to
both a PowerPoint presentation file and a Web presentation for those that do not have Microsoft-PowerPoint on their
PCs. In addition various
other pages have been updated with information I received from our
Officers, Directors and Chairmen.
God Bless
Greg
PowerPoint Presentation File Format |
Web Page Presentation Format |
| 01 Organizational Meeting July 2007.pps | Organizational Meeting July 2007 |
| 02 Activity Training.pps | Activity Training |
| 03 State Ceremonials.pps | State Ceremonials |
| 04 State Programming.pps | State Programming |
| 05 State Membership Report.pps | State Membership Report |
July 1, 2007 - Welcome to the new Fraternal Year!
My Worthy Brothers,
As a means of you getting to know you better I will be attending many Council, Assembly and District Organizational Meetings this year. For you to get to know me a little better I've included my acceptance speech from the Convention.
May 6, 2007
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
May I first express my great joy in being here with you this weekend. It’s like coming home to a Family Reunion.
Today is my Birthday! And yesterday, my brother knights gave me a wonderful Birthday present: Their confidence in me to serve as their State Deputy starting in July. I consider this an opportunity to be of Service to you my extended family, to the communities of our State through the service delivered by our local Councils and to my Church.
I have prepared myself for this opportunity with over 22 years of membership learning in the service of my local Council as an active member, Council Director, Officer and eventually Grand Knight; by gaining experience in the mentoring and coaching of other Grand Knights as a District Deputy and finally by developing an understanding of the workings of our State Council by serving in various State Chairmen, State Director and State Officer positions.
The most valuable knowledge I gained in those years was through my interaction and fellowship with the many hard working, service driven knights, their wives and families who clearly understand the true mission of our Order, which is the same mission we have as Christians: To bring others to our Faith and the Good News of Redemption and Salvation.
As Knights we must be visible role models of the Christian Cause. We and our families are called upon to evangelize the Good News of Christ through our works of Charity and Service that we deliver to our Church and Communities. By this activity we have an opportunity to bring the un-Churched, the uninvolved and those searching for meaning and purpose in their lives to a closer relationship with our Savior.
With your help, your active involvement and your spiritual and prayerful support, I pledge to work with you to build on the administrative and spiritual foundation that has been laid and made firm by our immediate Past State Deputy Ed Kennedy and our current State Deputy Tom Ingham (currently Immediate Past State Deputy).
We will re-dedicate our efforts to Mary our Blessed Mother and will continue to carry and pray our rosaries asking her to direct all of our efforts to the Service of our Church and Communities.
One of my key focuses will be to help increase the level of Activity within our local Councils and within our State Council. Active organizations attract new Members!
My next focus will be to help improve the level of involvement within our local councils and again within our State Council. Members who have a strong connection to their Councils by being needed in the planning and running of that organization rarely become suspensions.
Talented and dedicated Knights who are given the opportunity to be involved in State Council planning, decision making and responsibility, are more likely to grow in their leadership abilities and become future State Council Leaders.
My third focus will be to promote and encourage Grand Knights and their staffs to adopt Council-owned Repeatable Practices. Councils that plan for future Activity past the term of their current Grand Knight; who budget for their Charitable giving and the expenses to fund their planned Service; and those that manage the Service and Leadership development of their new and existing members will continue to be Strong Active role models of Service, independent of which gentlemen is wearing the Grand Knight’s jewel of office.
State Councils that actively develop, document and use standard practices for the duties of their Officers, District Deputies, Directors and Chairmen not only develop the Leadership abilities of these men but also provide a strong and healthy Officer Progression. This also makes these jobs less intimidating and improves the Ease of Entry into State Council Service.
Building on practices established during Ed and Tom’s terms of office, we will continue to add and improve these efforts.
There is much work to do, more than the list of positions within our State Directory. We need Council Members to also be involved in the running of their State Council.
We are looking for men with all kinds of talents.
This involvement will challenge you to use your own unique abilities and experiences. They will provide you with exposure to the how your State Council runs, how it can be improved and how it can be naturally grown through the increase of Activity and Involvement.
My goal is to fit something that is meaningful and has value, to improve our State Council, to the personality, talents and experience of the knights I assign them to. So if you wish to be involved and active in the service of your State Council, give me a call and we’ll setup an one-on-one meeting to discuss and put you to work.
I again wish to thank you for this opportunity to be of Service. May God Bless and watch over you and your families. Please know that you remain in my prayers and please keep me in yours.
God Bless,
Greg
State Deputy 2007-08
July 1, 2007 - Growth is in the A. I. R. !
Our theme this year is Growth is in the A. I. R. The letters stand for Activity, Involvement and Repeatable practices.
Activity breeds growth