June 2014 was our busiest month since last summer. Knights Donuts helped parishioners celebrate Pentecost, Father’s Day, and First Communion for 40 children. Brothers Matt Maranto, Neil Pugh and I were in charge one Sunday each. Neil served 23dozen donuts on First Communion Sunday, a non-Easter record. We’ve added bananas as a donut alternative. All members of the Donut Crew – Brothers Neil, Matt, Larry Call and I, and our constant companion, Brother Art Myers – have been recognized as Knights or Families of the Month for our Donut service.

We had our first Beer & Brats on June 14. Despite the threat of inclement weather, we were able to set up outside. We only served about 150 portions, due to a combination of monster-sized bratwurst and low church attendance all weekend. Kudos to Grand Knight Joe Musso, Deputy Grand Knight Gary Mayfield, Brothers John Starke, Tony Yarosh, Dave Martz, John Hilton, Nereus Lobo, Matt Yeagle, Dennis Cullen, Ford Fay, Max Gramly, Chris Kennedy, David Petteys, Tim Pimmel, Joe Regnery, and all those whose names I’ve missed, for your hard work .

The Knights were pivotal to the success of the Pax Christi Block Party Picnic on June 28. Brother Chris Kennedy was co-chair for the Parish with Jane Pipich. Grand Knight Joe Musso set up the Knights Beer Garden, featuring Coors and Blue Spruce, donated by each brewery, and other selections. Over 400 parishioners, families, and neighbors feasted on roast pork and other delicacies.   Children enjoyed the inflated castle and other bouncy attractions, and the game arcade. The parish grossed over $1,560 in donations for just the food.

For the rest of the year, we’re scheduled to serve donuts on 19 Sundays. We hope other brothers can step up and volunteer to run Donuts with us. If interested, please stop by the kitchen on any Sunday we’re serving. We’ll continue with our Beer & Brats, scheduled on July 12, August 16, and 13.

Church Director’s Report

 Our activities in May included helping Women’s CRHP serve donuts on Mother’s Day (Larry Call in charge) and May 25.  The ladies made money and recruited several receiving team members to their retreat the week-end of May 31 – June 1.

Bill Miller spearheaded the effort to fix the drainage problem at the rectory.

Thanks to Deacon Greg, Joe Musso, Ben Stancati, Bill Hensen, Dave Martz, and Chris and Christain Kennedy for their helping to remove and relocate rocks, install straw logs and remove sediment: mission accomplished.

Thanks also to executive chef Jose Gatica of Topas D’Jerez Spanish restaurant (at Holly and County Line) for letting us use his recycling container to dispose of 225 pounds cooking oil the Knights had used at our two Lenten fish fries.

Next month, Knights’ Donuts are scheduled for June 8, 15, and 22.  Our first Beer & Brats will be June 7.   The Knights will be cooking at the Parish picnic on June 28. We’ll also be sponsoring a beer garden and are inviting local microbreweries to show off their beers.  Festivities begin after Mass, which has been moved up to 4:00 pm.

Our activities in April were serving donuts on Palm Sunday (26 doz.) and, for the first time in two years, Easter Sunday (30 doz. after 10:30 Mass).  Things slowed down on April 27, when we only served 14 doz.  We also helped the Fair Trade Coffee Ministry by paying them $44 for coffee.  Donut Contributions have been terrific – over $300 on Easter and over $160 on April27, notwithstanding low church attendance.  Thanks to Matt Maranto and Neil Pugh for leading on these Sundays, and Larry Call and Art Myers for assisting.  More thanks to Matt for donating donuts to the Moms Group bake sale.  Finally, thanks to Grand Knight Joe Musso, Nereus Lobo, Alan Brown, Chris Kennedy and his parking crew, and others who helped on Easter. Larry Call will assist Women CRHP Donuts on Mothers’ Day.  Beer & Brats starts in June, and we’ll also be assisting the parish picnic later that month.

March 2014 was our busiest month since last summer.  Nearly a thousand donuts were served on four Sundays.  Brothers Larry Call and Matt Maranto ran Knights Donuts on March 2 and 9.  Brother Jay assisted St. Vincent de Paul Donuts on March 2 and Lady Knights Donuts on March 30.  Brother Art Myers helped set up most of these.

According to Fr. Jim, the Reconciliation Dinner on March 25 was “phenominal…Best dinner in the deanery…quite possibly the whole Diocese.”  Former Grand Knight Ron Rietsch, Grand Knight Joe Musso, and Deputy Grand Knight Gary Mayfield crafted a gourmet dinner of chicken marsala and garden salad, with a full complement of appetizers, beverages, and desert.  Brother Jay helped set up and serve.

Next month we only have Donuts on Palm Sunday and Easter, and we expect to serve about 700 donuts on Easter alone.

For 2013, the Church Directorate continued its tradition of attracting large gatherings of parishioners. We served donuts on 25 Sundays, and aided Habitat for Humanity and the Choir on two additional Sundays. We served beer and brats on four occasions this past summer, including at the parish picnic.
Behind the scenes, we helped Fr. Jim with spring cleaning and recycled 50 gallons of used cooking oil that had accumulated over the years (it was turned into 40 gallons of bio-diesel fuel). Most recently we conducted the “Keep Christ in Christmas” card sale and were responsible for preparing the Reconciliation Service dinner for Fr. Brian, Fr.Jim, and visiting priests.