St. Paul of Tarsus is hosting a Moderna Covid 19 Vaccine

Published on: Thursday, April 29, 2021

THIS EVENT IS CANCELLED

St. Paul of Tarsus is hosting a Moderna Covid 19 Vaccine A Clinic through Ready Nursing Solutions. It will be in our Parish Hall. The First Dose Date is Tuesday, May 11th. The Second Dose day is Tuesday June 15th. Pre-registration/appointments are required. Please visit Ready Nursing Solutions' website and complete the patient intake form found here: https://getreadyvaccine.com/patient-intake-form near the end It will ask you what organization are you a part of, please select St. Paul of Tarsus. Then at the end of the form you will be able to select your appointment time.

The Knight's Shield - May 2021

Published on: Saturday, April 24, 2021

Spring is here! I for one am glad to have the warmer weather and to see nature waking up from winter.

I hope this finds you and your families happy and healthy.

We had our first round of nominations for officer elections at last month’s meeting. The nominations are posted later in this newsletter. If you will not be attending the next meeting, I will be glad to accept nominations via email or phone call. There will be one more round of nominations...then elections will be held at the next meeting. Also, please remember that it is acceptable and encouraged to self-nominate if you would like to be involved in helping to run your council.

There is an online seminar by Tom Henga about retirement called "Paychecks and Playchecks" coming up. He is an author and very good presenter. I really enjoyed his last one. The flyer is attached to this newsletter. Please consider attending this as the council will get credit toward the Star Award if we get enough participation. Please let me know if you are going to attend so I can follow up and ensure that we get the credit that is due us. See the attached flyer for more information.

The road cleanup is coming up 4/24. We will meet in the North parking lot at 8am.

I just received word that the convention at Mackinaw is cancelled and will be virtual again this year.

This month. we recognize Memorial Day, (note I intentionally say recognize instead of celebrate). This is the holiday where we remember those who gave their lives in service brate, lets just make sure that we do remember and give thanks to God for the soldiers who made the greatest sacrifice for our freedom. As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them."

From my family to yours, we wish you a happy spring. As things ease up with vaccines getting in arms, I hope to see each and everyone of you soon!

Vivat Jesus!
Tom Gray

Mobile Assistive Technology Training - Resources for Blind and Low-Vision

Published on: Monday, April 5, 2021

The Knight's Shield - April 2021

Published on: Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Hallelujah! Christ is Risen! Happy Easter all!

I hope this finds you and your families happy and healthy.

We had our March meeting in person as a hybrid meeting. We had almost 50 men in person and a dozen on the Zoom portion. We also had an exemplification before the meeting. We had two new members and two 1st degree knights make 3rd degree. Thank you all who helped with the exemplification. I had many compliments on how well it went. I would like to welcome our two new knights Michael McKinnon and Jake Lueck.

We are through with a crazy couple of weeks. We had the fish fries throughout all of Lent. We had the Ham and Kielbasa sales. We had the Easter Egg hunt. Finally we had the MI Drive. I don't have final numbers for these events at the writing of this newsletter so stay tuned for results either in the next newsletter or at the next meeting. Without the dedication and hard work of knights and their families we would not be successful. So from the bottom of my heart I would like to thank each every one of you! I cannot list you all by name but you know who you are…

There is an online seminar by Tom Henga about retirement called "Paycheck and Playchecks" coming up. He is an author and very good presenter. I really enjoyed his last one. The flyer is attached to this newsletter. Please consider attending this as the council will get credit toward the Star Award if we get enough participation. Please let me know if you are going to attend so I can follow up and ensure that we get the credit that is due us. See the attached flyer for more information.

The road cleanup is coming up 4/24. We will meet in the North parking lot at 8am. See the attached article for more information.

From my family to yours, we wish you a blessed Easter. As things ease up with vaccines getting in arms, I hope to see each and everyone of you soon!

Vivat Jesus!
Tom Gray

The Knight's Shield - March 2021

Published on: Wednesday, February 24, 2021

I hope this finds you and your families all well.

We are into the Lenten season now, a time to reflect, sacrifice, and get closer to God. Please consider volunteering at one of our many upcoming events such as fish fries, MI Drive, Ham and Kielbasa sales, or Easter Egg hunt.

We had our February meeting online as a Zoom meeting due to the restrictions. We had around 30 participants and were able to complete all required business with no issues. I am looking forward to meeting in person again. I have reviewed the guidelines and think that we can meet in person at our next meeting on March 11th. I have submitted my plan to the church and am awaiting their response at the time this is being written. I will send an update as to what the plan will be. I am hoping to have a hybrid meeting with both Zoom and in person to accommodate everyone's comfort level. We will possibly be having an exemplification before the meeting at 6:30. We currently have one, maybe two new members attending. We also have one 1st degree member to attend for 3rd degree. If anyone is not a 3rd degree member and would like to attend, please let me know so we can be prepared.

We have completed our 1st day of fish fries at the writing of this newsletter, and it went pretty well considering it being two years since we have had one. It was a great turnout, and we sold out by 5:15. We did get into a groove after a slow start. We have a couple of things to tweak to be more efficient. We don't think that we can get much more food out of the kitchen but we are going to try to add some meals for next week. Please consider helping out with this, our biggest fund raiser of the year.

From my family to yours, we wish you a blessed Lent. Let us hope and pray that 2021 brings an end to this pandemic and our lives can return to normal.

Vivat Jesus!
Tom Gray

The Knight's Shield - February 2021

Published on: Thursday, January 28, 2021

We had our January meeting online as a Zoom meeting due to the restrictions. We had a much better turnout then the December meeting and were able to complete all required business with no issues.

We closed the Casey the Teddy Bear program. We raised around $750 profit from the program. PGK, FDD Jeff Gapczynski delivered the 4-1/2 cases of bears to the hospital. We now have funds to run it the rest of the year also. Hopefully we will get back to the Casino trip fundraiser next year.

Our next general meeting is currently planned to be in person on February 11th at 7:30. We will possibly be having an exemplification before the meeting at 6:30. We are planning to record this exemplification so we can post it online. We currently have one new member attending. If anyone is not a 3rd degree member and would like to attend, please let me know so we can be prepared. I will be monitoring the rules set out by the State and the Archdiocese for any changes. If we have to pull back the number of people, we could have a Zoom meeting or a hybrid meeting with some in person and some Zoom. I will send out updates if there are any changes.

You should all have your state raffle tickets. Please sell these, as the proceeds fund some state programs. The council also receives a kickback from each ticket sold.

Lent is just around the corner, and you know what that means! Fish Fries are back! Please prepare to help out with this, our biggest fund raiser of the year. We will be doing something whether we have to do carry out only or drive through or something. We are working out the logistics for the kitchen work to happen safely and within state guidelines. Stay tuned...

From my family to yours, we wish you a blessed Lent. Let us hope and pray that 2021 brings an end to this pandemic and our lives can return to normal.

Vivat Jesus!
Tom Gray

The Knight's Shield - January 2021

Published on: Friday, December 25, 2020

It was 25 years ago this month that our council was chartered! With the strong leadership and dedicated membership we have had through the years this council has thrived. God willing we will be able to have a celebration this spring with an awards night and dinner.

We had our December meeting online as a Zoom meeting due to the restrictions. It went better than I thought it would.

Our next general meeting is currently planned to be in person January 14th at 7:30. We will possibly be having an exemplification before the meeting at 6:30. We are planning to record this exemplification so we can post it online. We currently have one new member attending. If anyone is not a 3rd degree member and would like to attend please let me know so we can be prepared. I will be monitoring the rules set out by the State and the Archdiocese for any changes. If we have to pull back the number of people we could have a Zoom meeting or a hybrid meeting with some in person and some Zoom. I will send out updates if there are any changes. The meeting format will be changing slightly due to new guidelines from Supreme.

The Ham and Kielbasa was successfully completed. Thank you to all who helped! This was the first fundraiser we had this year that the funds are coming into the council so it was well needed.

Ken Krause will be needing some help removing Christmas decorations, there will be an update with timing and how to volunteer to help.

You all should have your state raffle tickets. Please sell these as the proceeds fund some state programs as well as the council receives a kickback from each ticket sold.

Casey the Teddy Bear will have been completed by the time you receive this. I will report final numbers when they become available. Thank you to all who supported this effort!

The free throw contest is still on for now. It is 1/30 at St. Thecla in the morning. We will be sending out details soon.

Lent is just around the corner and you know what that means! Fish Fries are back! Please prepare to help out with this, our biggest fund raiser of the year. We will be doing something whether we have to do carry out only or drive through or something. Stay tuned.

From my family to yours, we wish you a blessed New Year. Lets hope and pray that 2021 brings an end to this pandemic and our lives can return to normal.

Vivat Jesus!
Tom Gray