ANNUAL AWARDS FOR FAMILY ACTIVITIES
MAINE STATE CONVENTION
ROCKPORT, MAINE APRIL 18-20, 2008

Knights of Columbus councils conduct activities throughout the year in five program areas. church, community, council, family life and youth. Within each of the five program areas, one project is chosen for the "Supreme Award." Additionally, four projects are chosen as "Outstanding Activities" in each category. Two of these awards go to larger ("A") councils and two go to smaller ("B") councils. Here are the 2008 winners in the category of Family Life Activities. Presenting the awards were Family Life Activities Director Laurier "Larry" Martel and State Deputy Robert King.

SUPREME AWARD
COUNCIL # 10019 - LEWISTON
-BIG HELP FOR A LITTLE BOY-

As I sit here and ponder about how to begin this Surge Report, I find myself in complete awe and humbled by the events that unfolded! On February 11, 2007, Holy Family Council #10019 received a letter from Linda Cooper, the grandmother of. then little four-month-old Jorden Mitchell Spring, detailing the plight of this infant and making an appeal for help. Upon reading the letter to our membership and checking on the authenticity of said letter, our membership quickly voted to assist this ailing little boy, whereby making his fight for survival our fight as well. You see, Jorden Mitchell Spring was a. few weeks old when his mother noticed that his head was growing bigger than his twin brother's. One CAT scan and' one ultrasound later, the Lewiston family got the answer no family wants. Jorden had hydrocephalus; fluid was building up in his brain. At four and a half months old, Jorden had, already been through eight surgeries, some to fix the shunts and catheter that drain the cerebrospinal fluid from the brain, and others to deal with infection.

His mother Krista said that every time he spit up, she wondered if this was a regular baby thing or something wrong with the shunt as her concern mounted with each episode. Krista, a 23 year old cosmetology student, left school to take care of him. Jorden's father, Jason Spring, a 25 year old finish carpenter, missed work whenever Jordan was sick and/or in the hospital, which had been much of the time since the birth of the twins. Family members helped out where they could, usually watching his twin brother Jayse when Jorden was sick. But hospital bills kept coming in and, the young family began feeling the pinch due to the parents' time away from work. Relatives pitched in as much as possible; however, relatives couldn't fix their entire family's financial problems.

Hence, at the aforementioned meeting in February, a brother knight volunteered to chair a benefit spaghetti supper and proceeded to form a six-member committee before leaving that night and immediately assigned specific tasks to each one. The goal was to have zero dollars invested so as to maximize our profits. That meant the committee needed to canvas local vendors detailing Jorden's dilemma to obtain needed supplies. Letters and photographs were duplicated the very next day and passed out to the members to substantiate said facts before putting the wheels in motion and the canvassing began. In one month's time, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and we knew that the key to our success would hinge on having a feature article in our local newspaper. When contacting the Sun/Journal, we tried to reinforce the importance of what we wanted to accomplish and that we desperately needed their help. Our plea did not fall on deaf ears as Lindsey Tice jumped on board after hearing of the family's quandary. However, we didn't stop there as posters were made up for distribution around the community and write-ups were inserted in our church bulletin as well asking the public to join us for the benefit supper on Saturday, March 31, 2007 between 4:00 and 6:00 PM in the church hall.

We didn't know what to expect, but we knew that we had to be ready for the worst-case scenario. As the chairperson who spearheads all our suppers each year, I had a gut feeling that this one would exceed all expectations. I reinforced that fact by having the committee solicit ample supplies from the vendors, as well as insisting that the two council supper teams be combined to assure ample volunteers would be present. Needless to say, the benefit supper proved to be a huge success! The logistics associated with this venture became evident as the acts of kindness, the charity exemplified and the display of support by the citizens of our community was overwhelming. As I dissect the aftermath concerning this project, I find myself beaming with pride for I am so very proud of my association with my brother knights and their wives, for they are truly the best of the best! The combined fifty volunteers from the knights and ladies auxiliary labored tirelessly to make this event possible. Beforehand, each individual person was assigned a specific task to insure continuity would prevail during this chaotic event, thus insuring a smooth flow and movement of the serving lines. We cooked 95 lbs. of spaghetti, 950 meatballs, 125 lbs. of salad and made 42 loaves of bread. We also served 160 cups of coffee, used 140 liters of soda, 90 liters of water and 300 packets of croutons. For dessert, we had four large 18" x 32" sheet cakes. We fed approximately 450 to 475 people in all as the plate count got messed up. The church hall became a beehive of activity as we began to feed earlier than expected due to the large crowd of people lined up at the doors starting at 3:30 p.m. and ending at 6:00 p.m. non-stop.

At six dollars per ticket, people would give us tens and twenties and say, "keep the change". Children under 12 were admitted free of charge because we wanted to project a family atmosphere while assisting this young family in distress. The cleanup took approximately one and a half hours as the volunteers wasted no time in restoring the hall to its original status. The kitchen crew washed and put all the pots and pans away, swept and mopped the floor and, as they turned the lights out, marveled at the evening's accomplishments while making their exit. As the doors were being locked, one member stated "I'm very tired, but you know what?, It's a very good feeling." and everyone agreed with great satisfaction. We received donations of $4, 891 in the form of checks made out to the Spring family and a gift certificate for $100 worth of groceries from a local market. Ticket sales/donations at the door amounted to $4,450 plus a very generous offer of $3,000 in matching funds from an anonymous donor. So far, the total is $13,441.00, however, additional donations continue to come in.

All money raised was presented to Jason and Krista Spring at the 11:00 a.m. service by Fr. Kenneth Dakin as the rest of the family looked on in amazement. Also, Fr. Ken asked all the knights present to please stand up and thanked them for their efforts as applause echoed throughout the Church that morning. In addition, we petitioned our pastor on the weekend of Sat. & Sun, April 13 and 14, to have five knights man the doors after the four services, with baskets in hand for the "Help Your Neighbor" collection. Our pastor and chaplain swiftly agreed to our request and made the announcement that all proceeds would benefit the Spring family. After the 6:00 p.m. Sunday Mass, a quick tally revealed that $927 was donated by our parishioners as they made their exit. At our Sunday night April 22nd council meeting, we presented the family with these funds. Finally, letters were drawn up and sent to the local paper, the readers, and the generous vendors who donated their products, giving them a full report concerning this fund raiser and, in closing, we said "thank you" to all from the bottom of our hearts for their tremendous support. We are so grateful to all!!

The Brian Denger family is one that has endured many hardships. They have two sons who are wheelchair bound and one daughter with diabetes. Their sons are getting older and now require a special lift to assist in moving them to and from bed. Our council decided to hold a breakfast to raise $2,000 to help pay for this. It was heavily advertised in the parish and community. Our council supplied the food and manpower and the parish and community came out to support this family. Many people came to the breakfast; others came to make a donation. We far surpassed our goal and raised $3,600 to give to this needy family. Our grand knight and his committee did an outstanding job. The family was present and they were very grateful.

OUTSTANDING ACTIVITY, "A" DIVISION
COUNCIL # 12652 - LEWISTON
-SPAGHETTI FUNDRAISER SUPPER FOR A FAMILY-

Our council, the PTO of Walton School and family members held a spaghetti supper to raise funds for the family of Jillian Dumais. Jillian is a one-year-old cancer victim. The family has been struggling financially with medical and traveling bills. Our council purchased, prepared and served the food for the spaghetti supper which included salad, spaghetti, three different spaghetti sauces, grated cheese, bread, butter and many desserts with milk, coffee, water and tea. The PTO and family members worked on getting items for a raffle which included many fabulous prizes such as a Thomas Moser rocking chair. We also held a 50/50. Jillian was present with her family. Over 500 people were served. A total of $12,500 was raised for the family.

OUTSTANDING ACTIVITY, "B" DIVISION
COUNCIL # 11228 - KITTERY
-RE-SIDING A BROTHER KNIGHT'S HOME-

One of our brothers, who for the past 10 years or so had worked various jobs off and on, was finally able to retire. Shortly after retirement, his health failed and he became disabled. Our brother and his wife were in the process of re-siding their house with cedar shingles. It was very slow going for them, partly because of the cost and partly because of his progressive mental disability.

When one of our younger brothers learned of their plight, he decided to act. Donations of roughly half the cost of materials were anonymously supplied. Other brothers pitched in with money for breakfast, coffee and donuts, along with lunch, pizza and sodas. Three brother knights did some prep work the day before, removing some of the old siding and staging tools, equipment and building material. On Saturday morning at 6:00 a.m. (with short notice), eight knights showed up with tools and ladders in hand. By 7:00 a.m., we were well underway with power tools, table saws, an air compressor and nail guns. By 6:00 p.m. we had to stop because we couldn't reach any higher with the ladders and scaffolding that we were using (besides it would soon be getting dark). Half of the house had previously been re-sided over time by our brother and his wife. All together, we had completed one whole wall and about two-thirds of another outside wall. All that remained was just over 100 square feet to be sided.

Besides the knights, we did have help from an older gentleman who was an experienced contractor and a friend of our disabled brother and his wife. He was extremely helpful and he also supplied the scaffolding that we used. That allowed us to work faster and more safely than with ladders alone. Worried about the increasingly cold and rainy autumn weather, we wanted to complete this project as soon as possible. The contractor friend of our disabled brother was able to set up enough additional scaffolding to reach the peak of the unfinished wall, but he needed it all back by the following Saturday evening.

Friday morning was crisp, clear and cooler. Three brothers, myself and. our disabled brother's wife started working again. Progress was a little slower than the previous week because of fewer workers. Even with three on the scaffolding, we were often in each other's way. More people would not have been able to help. Two of us were very nervous working at that height on the wobbly scaffolding, but we knew the job had to get done. By late afteunoon, we had finally nailed the last piece of siding in place. We were extremely proud and impressed with the brother knights who helped with this project and worked hard from sunrise to sunset; especially the younger brother who spearheaded, coordinated, worried about and finally saw this project through to reality. He saw a brother in need and was compelled to action. We also wish to thank our anonymous benefactor who donated all the building supplies that our disabled brother knight and his wife could not afford. Because of the work of our project chairman, this did not const the council any money whatsoever from our funds.

OUTSTANDING ACTIVITY, "B" DIVISION
COUNCIL # 5756 - BUCKSPORT
-FAMILY FUNDRAISING SUPPER-

One of our parishioners lost everything they had in a fire. Our council decided to have our monthly fish fry for the John and Ruth York family. We had a lot of our knights and wives help out but at this supper, we served over 140 people and raised over $1,000 with meals and donations. The Yorks came and were overwhelmed with our generosity towards them. Signs were put up all over Bucksport, Orland, Blue Hill and Orrington. We had a great turnout!