(305) Knights of Columbus Sponsor St. Louis Parish Appreciation Dinner and Promote Parish Community

 AMDG

The members of the parish enjoy each other and the delicious top quality food prepared by our master chef, Alex Valadez.  At the same time, the Knights of Columbus extend its appreciation to all of those who have supported our fund raisers, thus making this exquisite meal available without charge to our honored guests, all the members of our parish family.  Our thanks to Moriah Scarberry for taking the photos.

 Every year our Knights of Columbus Council 3335 sponsors a dinner or brunch honoring members of our parish who have stood out and faithfully contributed more than the expected……Knight of the Year, Lady of the Year, Youth of the Year, Family of the Year, etc.  But it seemed as though essentially the same group of people received a formal recognition more than once. 

    But what about everyone else who have done whatever they could despite being loaded down with health problems, busy work schedules, family obligations, children, home upkeep, serving the community, etc.?  They give financial support to the parish, help those in need on an individual basis, faithfully attend Mass every Sunday, pray for the renewal of the Church and our parish, and making the annual pilgrimage to Washington for the March For Life, not to mention the sick who offer their crosses daily as a dynamic prayer for us.   And last but not least we cannot forget Trudi and our administrative assistant, Mary Ann.  We couldn’t do without them. 

Thus we decided to do something different.  Why not recognize everybody with a classy top quality appreciation dinner?  And that’s what we did.

       These parish dinners and other activities are indispensable for building a solid community of faithful believers united to serve the Lord, His Church, and His people…..helping each other on the journey to eternity.  The more people who attend and participate, the stronger our parish community becomes.  Each person is so important and makes a difference, a big difference.  A close knit and strong parish community where people care about each other even helps the new evangelization……helping to keep cradle Catholics from drifting away and attracting new members.

       How did the knights put this all together?  The knights passed out personal invitations to everyone who attended Mass one Sunday.  The people were asked to acknowledge their RSVP invitation by the next Sunday as to the number of people attending from their families with their choices of either chicken or roast beef. 

Alejandra Garrett, Mike Edelmann, Joy and Kieth Elliott serve the people in the chow line.

Knowing the number of guests, our master chef, Alex Valadez was able to plan and buy the food.  After graduating from Gallia Academy, he went to a 12-month Chefs School and currently helps his father run the El Toril Mexican Restaurant, one of the best in southeastern Ohio. 

The knights and several women too set up the parish hall for dinner and the honored guests came in as the master chef prepared the meal.  Mary Ann and Matt Bokovitz, our former grand knight, were key players in organizing the event as were his brother knights.

Mike Dressel welcomes everyone to the St. Louis Parish Appreciation Dinner at the parish hall.  Notice the tapestry of the Last Supper in the background.

      Our grand knight (president), Mike Dressel opened the delightful evening with a warm welcome and an explanation of this endeavor by the knights.  He made it a point to recognize the Catholic Women’s Club for their work.  After our pastor, Fr. Thomas Hamm said the blessing, we were off amidst the clanging of knives and forks.  It was a great meal, a choice of chicken or roast beef with the sauce and the trimmings.  Jackie Ours topped it off with a delicious dessert. 

       The guests enjoyed it immensely……good food, great fellowship, good conversation, and laughs too.  It was a relaxing parish family sit-down dinner, no fast food on the run.  All the positive feedback from nearly a hundred guests was a testament to this.  As Christ broke bread with His apostles at the Paschal meal and first Mass on Holy Thursday so did we, but in a down to earth way at our parish dinner.  We worship together; we pray together; we work together, we celebrate together, we mourn together and we relax together while caring about each other…..each doing his/her part.  

 That’s what a Christian community is all about!  And that’s what a parish family should be!  Let’s all make sure we always maintain that and more by the active participation of each one of us as an example to all of the parishes in the diocese.       

       Everybody had a good time…….so much so that people were already asking about having another appreciation dinner next year.  And why not?  May this appreciation dinner become a tradition, an annual event at St. Louis Church.  Next year may our Parish Appreciation Dinner be bigger and better than ever with every single member of the parish attending.  DON’T MISS IT!  Let’s double the number of those attending to 200.  Talk it up when the time comes!

       And men of the parish, we need you; join us as brother knights!  Even though you may not like meetings, we have great fellowship with a dinner together before each one and your ideas are so important.  Plus, there are many opportunities to serve the parish and the surrounding community.  That will enrich your life!  

Build upon the pillars of the order within yourself……charity, fraternity, unity, and patriotism.  Contact our grand knight, Mike Dressel at 740-853-1842 or e-mail him at hammer56.mike@aol.com.  More about the knights at their website www.kofc.org.

Furthermore, the Knights of Columbus life insurance program to help secure your family financially is really among the very best out there.  Any surplus funds (profits) don’t go to the stockholders, but back to you in rebates and Knights of Columbus charities.