State of the Council Report
By Lee Williams, Grand Knight
Brother Knights, I’m please to report on the state of Spalding Council. December ended the
first six months in office of your current officers. We have both good news and bad news to report. I prefer to lead with
the good news.
The Knights
of Columbus continues to increase in numbers on the national level. Your council is currently financially stable and the Hall
(Third Degree Club) ended the year operating in the black for the first time in recent memory (recent being thirty years or
so). Our council had a strong and beneficial presence at Bradley University through the Newman Center and we were able to
help start the new Council at Bradley University thanks to Herb Bingham and Tony Thomas. Chief Councilor Ron Santos and five
brother Knights have successfully chartered our new Squires Circle #5352. Nine thousand dollars was collected for the Tootsie
roll MRLD drive and we increased our numbers for the vocations and state BBQ raffles. Council 427’s first Soccer challenge
was held and we had a 10 year old contestant qualify for state competition. This is a large part of the good news, we are
grateful and there is more good news but we also have bad news.
We need help! The Knights of Columbus has an excellent structure and organizational chart to assist with the goals
of Charity Unity and Fraternity. What our council lacks are the personnel willing to step up to fill the necessary positions
to achieve these goals. The Knights have great programs already put together to involve young people. We do not have a youth
director and consequently had to stop with the Soccer challenge as our activities this year. For lack of help, the Spelling
Bee, Free Throw Contest, neither Poster Contest, nor Essay Contest was held. We will schedule the Soccer Challenge,
Free Throw and Spelling Bee for next year with the hope of staffing these events and any other events for which we can find
the persons willing to help. Like I said we need help.
Your current officers are focused on serving the Priests and Churches in our Diocese from which we draw are membership.
We need your help to do this efficiently. We need a Knight in each parish willing to communicate with his Priest, to head
up the round table at his church. This would be someone who could bring the needs of his parish to our council so we might
assist in filling a need or solving some problem. We know that our Brother Knights are serving their parishes in any number
of ways. We ask you to step forward and let your priests know you are a Knight and ask how the Council might support or serve
the Parish. Council 427 draws on five parishes for most of its members every Knight in your parish should consider himself
a member of the parish round table. I encourage each of you to attend our business meetings at 7:30pm on the 4th Thursday of the month and bring the needs of your parish to us.
Remember the charges of our order
Charity, Unity, Fraternity, and Patriotism. As Knights we are here to serve in any capacity consistent with these charges.
We, your officers are reaching out to you for help in helping fulfill the charge we have to serve our Priests and parishes.
The Venerable Father McGivney began the Knights to help serve our brother Knights and their families during a time when Catholics
were extremely discriminated against. What better way to honor our deceased brothers than supporting our Parish priests and
the families of our Parishes. Step forward today and discover the true joy of being a Knight who takes action.
