Author: Ascension Knights Council 11139

The January 23 meeting will have an update on Knights of Columbus financial and insurance programs from our field agent, McClellan. 

Our guest speaker for the February 27 council meeting will be Fred Domke of the Bridge Bread Bakery.  Bridge is a non-profit St. Louis charitable retail bakery enterprise located on Cherokee Street in St. Louis.  It provides gainful employment to people without safe and stable housing.  While learning the business, many of these people continue to work for Bridge while others leave to join other bakeries or start their own.

Brother Knight Gregory Casalone will be our guest speaker for the March 26 council meeting.  He represents the Rural Parish Mobile Dental Clinic which was established in 2019 by Archbishop Carlson and Dr. John Landgraf. The clinic treats dental patients who do not have insurance and are below the poverty rate, such as a family of four who earns less than $60,000/year.  The clinic’s impressive treatment statistics encompass all aspects of dentistry. Dr. Casalone practiced dentistry for 43 years in Elsberry, and started with the clinic in June 2021 as co-director and staff dentist.

Dear Brother Knights,

I’m writing this note in support of the upcoming Ascension Parish Gala, to be held April 20 at the Factory in Chesterfield Valley. As you may have seen in the bulletin, the cost of tickets are $125 per person. That’s not an insignificant sum, particularly for many who already support the parish as we do. 

I’m writing in support of the Gala and the 45-year-old-and-under cohort that manages that effort. This is the same group who supported our golf tournament by providing 15 percent of our player field and four silver sponsorships at $1,000 each, representing 29 percent of our major sponsor total. Like the Knights of Columbus and Ladies Auxilliary, they know how to positively impact our parish! Please consider supporting them and our parish by attending the gala.

Laura and I will see you there!

Dan Duffy, Community Programs Director

By Grand Knight John Brugger

As we embark on a new year we always look back at the previous year as to what we have done; what have we accomplished and what do we want to change for the future.  I always want to remind our membership that we need each of you to be engaged with our Council.  Our strength comes from your involvement in all our numerous charities that we support, our parish, school, the unborn, the disabled, our veterans, etc.

I always recall back to that special relationship that Pope John Paul II had with the Knights.  He called us the “strong right arm of the church.”  He was very aware of our commitments to family; the teachings of the church; our support of our priests and promoting religious vocations, and that the Knights would always be there to defend the church. 

This year we see too many challenges throughout the world where our Catholic faith is under attack.  I ask you all to pray for our priests, our country, and our entire world that the peace of Christ will reach us all.  Thank you to all of our Knights that stay engaged and involved in our Council for working together we are strong, and our faith will not be shaken.

Finally, I encourage all of you to consider joining us for the Ascension Gala in April. Click here for information. When purchasing tickets, you can, enter “Knights” in the Group Name, so we can be seated at the same table.

Club 150 wraps up its third annual program December 28 with the final $3,000 grand prize drawing and check presentations to Fr. Hambrough for Ascension School and the parish, $5,000 each.

Deadline for joining and to be entered in the drawing is noon Friday, December 22.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ONLINE FORM

By Grand Knight John Brugger

Last month, we sold out our Annual Children’s Charity Golf Tournament.  This month at the October meeting we will announce the results of the money raised, which promises to set records on the amount contributed for this event. We will be presenting checks to our two charities, Ascension Little School and Academy St. Louis.  We will also present a check to our Ladies Auxiliary thanking them for their help and support of this event.

October is also the time when the Knights support our annual Developmental Disability (Tootsie Roll) Drive. Many Knights were engaged to help cover all the exits after mass to solicit donations and again at the exits of Schnuck’s and Dierberg’s.  The results are still being tabulated but rough estimates suggest we will surpass last year’s donations and were able to exceed our goal of $8,000 because of your generosity and time. A special thank you goes to Mike Pfeifer and the captains who did a great job: Bob Claus, Dan Duffy, Ron Meier and Ted Naegel.

November is the month when we remember our Knights and Ladies who have passed with our Annual Memorial Mass. Please plan to join us for Mass at 6:30 PM Tuesday, November 21. Our monthly Council meeting will follow at 7:30 PM in the MPR.

Save the Date: Our annual Christmas Party is planned for Saturday evening, December 16.  A catered event is being planned and Bob Jenkins will again be providing the music and entertainment with a special appearance by Santa Claus.

The Ascension Council’s participation in the ASAP Program (Assistance and Support After Pregnancy) concludes soon, after we present contributions totaling $23,000 to our four designated charities: Thrive, Coalition for Life, Our Lady’s Inn and Good Shepherd Children and Family Services. Knights will vote on these funds at the brief July meeting taking place as the July 25 barbecue kicks off.

Planning and execution of this program took five months with 2,000 baby bottles distributed through the parish and school starting on Mothers Day. 45 Knights and others helped wrap these with our special label and pass them out at Masses and elsewhere. Of the 2,000, more than 1,200 came back, with over $10,000. 

Special thanks go to our ASAP committee, which included John Brugger, Tim Lewis, Bill Lukas, Bill Klein, Ron Meier, and Jon Gebhauer. In addition, our charity partners Thrive and Coalition Life attended eight Masses, distributing information to parishioners, and attended our Council’s “High on Life” kite event.

Learn more about our charities:

Coalition Life
Our Lady’s Inn
Good Shepherd Children and Family Services
Thrive

Ascension’s 2023 Children’s Benefit Golf Tournament took place September 25, at Aberdeen Golf Club in Eureka, and was once again a sold-out affair. Click here for images from the event.