June 2008

Many thanks to all who helped to make Old Timers Night on May 19th a

smashing success and an appropriate tribute to our Old Timers. My belief is

they really enjoyed themselves and appreciated the efforts put out for them.

Also, thank you to Jack Whitney and Don DiBiase for heading up Night At

The Races for Lou Agosta on May 31st. In June, usually our busiest month,

attending Flag Day on June 14th and Past Grand Knights/Past Faithful

Navigators/Volunteer Appreciation Night on June 16th can not be stressed
enough.What greater tribute can we make to the flag of this great country and
to the men that have led and served this council and made it what it is than to
show up in force and pay our utmost respects to them.

Another Columbian year is coming to a close and with that the end of my

term as Grand Knight. I will have mixed feelings on leaving this prestigious

office, but the strongest feeling of all has to be pride, proud to have been chosen,

proud to have fulfilled my duties and led such an outstanding group of

men with diversified backgrounds and personalities but a common faith and a

common drive to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Our greatest resource

as a Council is the many talented people that collectively make up our

membership. I can only hope that we have done what we can this year to not

only retain, but also add to this super talent pool.

Without thanking each person individually, I would like to say thank you

to all the officers, workers, volunteers, etc. that made this Columbian year

such an enjoyable and successful year. The efforts of so many whether it was

on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis were instrumental in making my job as

Grand Knight that much easier and what else can I say but Thank You and

God Bless you. I look forward to working with all of you for many years to

come. Everyone have a safe and enjoyable summer and please put the following

dates on your calendar: July 4th - Congress Park, July 20th – Open house

at the flat track, July 29th – Giants training camp day, August 10th – Father

Tracy’s fundraiser dinner at the hall and Bingo every Wednesday.

Fraternally yours,

Grand Knight Frank Scarpinato

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May 2008

Spring has sprung and with that comes a feeling of new life all around and
hopefully new ideas. Spring is usually our busiest time of the year and since

we don’t have meetings during the summer, the events we have during the

summer require more volunteers than usual. That being said, any new members

from the April 21st degree and some of our recent degrees would be welcome

volunteers with new ideas that could be a breath of fresh air to this

council. I want to thank John & Eileen Tuohy & the Kitchen Crew for preparing

and serving that excellent dinner on April 21st and also thank the degree

team for putting on the degree.

Saturday, April 26th turned out to be quite an eventful day for the Council.

In the morning, a good number of volunteers tackled the grounds of our

hall and really did a great job of cleaning up the parking lot, the yard, and the

beds. We can not thank you all enough for taking on this endeavor and running

with it. After that was done, Bud Barber, as he has done all along, did a

masterful job of leading the ranks into setting up the hall for the 250 Club

dinner. Thank you to the guys that helped with the party setup. After a short

hiatus from the club, most of us reconvened back at the hall for the 250 Club

party that night and what a party it was. The dinner was great, the entertainment

and the company was even better. Again, we can not thank Bud enough

for doing such an outstanding job with this event.

May will be another busy month for us. Besides our usual events, a

Knights of Columbus prayer rally is scheduled for May 13th at the Capitol

steps in Albany. Please try and show your support for this important event.

On Monday, May 19th, we will be having our Old Timers Night. You should

have received a letter, but without being too repetitive, the dinner starts at

6:30 PM and please try and attend so we can honor our Old Timers the way

they should be honored. One Old Timer that I would like to mention and in

my own small way honor and who has since passed from this life is Harold

Niblo. Harold would get up at a meeting every so often and say we have to

pay off the mortgage. Well, because of his foresight and generosity (the

Knights of Columbus was named one of many beneficiaries of his estate and

his estate was recently settled), the mortgage on the building with approval

from the members of this council will be paid off in a month.

Fraternally yours,

Grand Knight Frank Scarpinato

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April 2008

I hope everyone had a very special and holy Easter. It is a time to put all

your troubles aside and remember that our Savior gave his life for us to show

us that even death can not conquer the power of love. Congratulations to all

the members that made their third degree on March 9th into full knighthood.

Being a Third Degree Knight now makes you eligible to become an officer so

I hope you enjoyed the degree and the dinner and feel enthusiastic about becoming

an officer one day. Thank you to our outstanding degree team for

putting on the degree and making it an event that really brought out the fraternity

in all of us. Also, thank you to Wally Gailor, Drew Farrell and the

kitchen crew for an excellent meal that night. Thanks also to Drew Farrell

and the kitchen crew for a great meal on our social night of Monday, March

24th.

April is shaping up to be a relatively busy month for us. Besides the meetings,

youth dance, weekly bingos and various other events, we will be hosting

the last degree of my term, a First Degree on Monday, April 21st. The schedule

for that day is dinner at 6PM, the degree at 7PM sharp, followed by a

short meeting. As usual, we will be honoring a member after the degree so if

you haven’t been to a degree in a while, please try to attend so we can all

show this member how special he is to us. Also, in April we will be having

the annual 250 Club party on Saturday, April 26th. I may be biased, but the

250 Club party usually turns out to be one of the best parties we have at our

council. If you’re not in the club, you can still join and get some chances to

win money. More importantly, nowadays, where, for $25, can you go for a

ton of great food and entertainment, open bar, and the kicker, the company of

your brother knights? You can see Bud Barber for details and I believe it

merits mentioning again to thank Bud for doing such a tremendous job of

chairing the club this year.

The last item I would like to mention is Spring is here and with that come

Spring cleanups. Bob Spratt, Ski, Joe Freshwater, Bob Badaszewski and

Elwin Rivenburg do a standup job maintaining our home. But why should it

only fall on them, the home belongs to all of us? That being said, some time

in the spring, we will be scheduling a comprehensive Spring cleanup for the

home and we will make it fun by serving lunch via a cookout. Please plan on

attending because as the saying goes, “Many hands make light work.”

Fraternally yours,

Grand Knight Frank Scarpinato

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March 2008

Congratulations to all the members who made their second degree on February

18th. I hope you enjoyed the degree and the dinner and feel welcomed

by all and are enthusiastic about continuing on in your journey to full knighthood,

conveniently by the way a third degree scheduled for Sunday, March

9th at our home at 1 PM. Thank you to our outstanding degree team for putting

on the degree and thank you to Stan Drosky and the kitchen crew for

an excellent meal that night.

On February 15th, we had our monthly Youth Dance and it was a special

one. Art Poutre came up with the idea of “Kids feeding Kids” where each

kid that attended the dance was asked to bring an item to be donated to the

local food pantry. In turn, for each kid that brought in an item or items, $1

would be also donated to the food pantry. What a great idea and what a success.

Good job Art. Not only are we helping the local food pantry that is in

great need right now but we are also teaching our local kids about social justice,

where we as Catholics must tend to the needs of the less fortunate. Also thank you

to Mike Dagle and Dave Barringer for assisting and supporting

Art with this great cause and for tirelessly running the Youth Dance every

month. Where would we be without this super fund-raising event but more

importantly, where would our local youth be hanging out if they didn’t have

this dance to go to where they can be safe?

In March, we will be organizing the committees to select next year’s officers

and will be looking for a few good men to lead us in the years to come.

If you are asked, before you say yes or no, let me assure you that being an

officer has its moments good and bad, but to lead such a great group of men

is truly an honor.

Monday, March 17th is St. Patrick’s day and Happy St. Patrick’s day to

all. That being said, our monthly dinner and meeting will be Monday, March

24th instead of on the 17th. Also, Happy Easter to all. May the love of the

Lord rise in all of us during this very special time of year.

Fraternally yours,

Grand Knight Frank Scarpinato