Happy New Year everyone. Just like every year, it seems like everything I read this morning had something about what went on in 2008. So I thought, what the heck, we didn’t want to be left out. Here is our “Fort Howard Council Year in Review”. Hope you enjoy it.
A couple of highlights included receving for the second year in 
a row Supreme’s Columbian Award for service. Additionally, we were recongized at the last State Council convention for our History Book (awarded Green Bay Diocesain best History Book) as well as Youth Service Program for sponsoring two “John F. Kennedy” high school scholarships.
Some of our monthly highlights included:
January 2008: Receiving a special Thank You from the Catholic Foundation, for one of our most successful projects of coordinating and distribution of rosaries throughout the years. Without the tireless efforts of a few Brother Knights, including Sir Knight Larry Kubale and others this program would not be the success that it is. The Catholic Foundation requested Larry and the Knights to helping them hand out rosaries to missionaries from all over the world. Larry immediately went into action and provided over 1,000 rosaries from our stock. Additionally, throughout the year our council provides rosaries to the Chapel at St. Mary’s Hospital in Green Bay, we estimate providing over 100 rosaries have been distributed at the chapel. Another annual event we participate in is the placement of a single rose prominently near the altar at each of our parishes during the weekend of January 19th – 20th to commemorate Knights of Columbus Rose for Life Campaign, an annual January campaign to stamp out abortion. Brother Knight Jayme Kujava and the Green Bay Floral donated several roses during our Rose for Life Campaign, as in past years we placed a single rose near each of the alters at St. Jude, Annunciation and St. Patrick.
February 2008:Our Council celebrated our 45th Year Anniversary with a banquet at Rock Garden Supper Club. Our Wisconsin State Deputy Robert Abb came up from Janesville, to celebrate with us and was our keynote speaker. We were also, privileged to have with us Vic De Cleene, our very first District Deputy who was instrumental in forming Fort Howard Council 5382 back in January 1963. Council members helped out at the NEW Community Shelter. Brother Knights and their Ladies cooked and served hamburgers, potato salad, beans, and much more were served to over 165 individuals for supper. The shelter has been open for just over three years now and has received over $4 million dollars in community donations.
March 2008: During our monthly council meeting a local Boy Scout spoke to us about his service project for Eagle Scout. The Scout is a junior at West High School and alumni of Holy Apostle who is working toward his Eagle Scout Award. His service project entails removal of the old Public Address system and subsequent replacement of a new system in the Annunciation Church Hall. Council members voted to sponsor Patrick with a $200 donation to help defray the cost of his project.
April 2008: Our Annual Tootsie Roll Drive was held during the weekend of April 18th – 20th; unofficially, we collected over $4,700 this year and although that was down a bit from last year, we had a good showing and logged in over 180 man hours of volunteer work during the weekend. April 17th saw us host Fr. Emil Cook at the Rock Garden Supper Club once again. Fr. Cook provided on update on Mission Honduras International as well as his missions in Liberia and the Dominican Republic.
May 2008: Council Brat Fry was held on May 9th and 10th at the Citgo Gas Station on the corner of Military & Bond Street.
June 2008: On June 19th we will held our Installation of Officers at St. Jude with a short mass, ceremony and small pot luck dinner.
July 2008: On July 17th we met at Perkins Park for our annual family picnic. Everyone had a great time, plenty of food, and some spirited gamesmanship at both the horseshoe pit and the Bolo Toss or Ladder Golf.
September 2008: Saw the launch of our new re-designed website (http://kofc5382.org). September was a busy month for our Council, starting off with the Green Bay Diocesan Meeting and ASPRIO Buddy walk, and sponsoring our first combined Punt, Pass, and Kick with our annual Youth Basketball Free Throw competition, and ending the month as well as starting next month participating in the 40 Days 4 Life prayer vigil were just a few of the highlights for September. Because of bad weather, our Free Throw/Punt, Pass and Kick competition didn’t have the youth participation we had hoped for; several of our Knights either helped at or attended the ASPIRO Buddy Walk which saw the Wisconsin State Knights as one of the major sponsors for this year’s walk. Another activity we participated in this month included: holding a Prayer Vigil from Monday evening for four weeks in support of our local 40 Days 4 Life campaign and sponsoring the Wisconsin State Council Respect Life Essay Contest with our Faith Formation Center and youth programs.
October 2008: October included our annual Landing Day Banquet. Our guest speaker Brother Knight Tony Pichler who provided a very inspirational talk on service, faith and community. Tony is the Lay Ministry Formation Director for the Diocese of Green Bay and Co-founder of Street Lights Outreach with Deacon Steve Meyer. He also serves on the St. John the Evangelist Homeless Shelter Executive Committee as Vice-Chairperson. Council officers took some initiative and introduced themselves to several youth at the Wednesday night CCD classes held at the Faith Formation Youth Center. The purpose of their talk was to introduce them to the Knights of Columbus and invite them to join us in this years Respect Life Month Essay contest sponsored by the Wisconsin State Knights of Columbus Council.
November 2008: Another great Booyah Bash started off the month! We had over 40 plus family members and friends who came out to watch the Packers loss to the Vikings, and though the out come of the game wasn’t favorable the soup, food and drinks were outstanding, thanks again everyone for a great afternoon. On November 13th our Council along with Green Bay Council 617 and the Duck Creek Council held a Memorial Mass to honor our Brother Knights who passed away this past year. Mass was attended by family members and approximately twenty-five Knights and their ladies. During our monthly Council meeting Council members approved donating $100 each to the following organizations: Salvation Army, St. Vincent De Paul (St. Jude Chapter) and the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross.
December 2008: Started off with our annual Tom and Jerry Christmas Party. This year we had over 30 members, family and friends help us bring in a new Advent season. The Tom & Jerry Christmas Party was once again a big success thanks in part to the many volunteers who helped out. Our gift exchange and raffle went over well, with Green Bay Flora donating several poinsettias and everyone who attended bringing gifts for the gift exchange and raffle. Our resident bartenders kept everyone supplied with warm Tom & Jerry’s drinks and the gift exchange/raffle netted couple hundred dollars for the council. This year’s party was attended by well over forty members, spouses and guests. Another first for our council, as several Knights Volunteered their Sunday morning to help put up several Christmas Trees at St. Patrick’s Parish.
Fort Howard Council 5382 continues to be active in our local parishes and community; while we saw several new initiatives take place in 2008, our membership has continued to decline. Hopefully we can turn this trend around in 2009, if you’re a member, ask someone to join, if you’re reading this and are interested in becoming a Knight, we invite you to drop us a line at knights@kofc5382.org, or fill-out our contact information here.
Well that’s about it – Happy New Year from the Knights at Fort Howard.
Vivat Jesus
Jack
John-Henry Westens’ editorial on LifeSiteNews.com provides an outstanding reflection and discription of Pope Benedict’s recent Christmas address addressing the issues of human mortality and the need to protect ourselves “against Self-Destruction’ of Sexual Aberration.”. 
Knightly News has heard that the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce has come up with a list of 40 people, under 40, that you should know in Green Bay.
