Awards for Council 10208

On a rainy, stormy night in Ft. Smith on Saturday April 29, a years worth of effort, hard work, and team execution paid off for Council 10208.  The Council received the Church Award for the outstanding efforts in one of the order's main missions, Building the Domestic Church.  Next was the Family Life Award, for the oustanding work in the area of Pro-Life; from protecting the unborn, to ministering to those living in our midst who are most in need.  Then came the CPID award, for the Councils outstanding fund raising for Children with Intellectual Disabilities.  Roughly $26,000 was raised by many dedicated Brother Knights.  Finally, the culmantion of it all, was the Large Council of the Year Award.  This prestigious award was well earned, and a tribute to the leadership and team work of this Council in all areas.

These awards of course as wonderful as they can be to receive, are only the superficial; the much deeper and more meaningul reward are those kind smiles and thank you's of all the lives that this Council touches each year.  The lives made so much better by so many works of mercy, genrosity, and love.

A huge salute to Council10208 as they continue to spread Chirsts message to the this community and to the world!

Sister Isabel Alontaga

Cebu, central Phiilipines is not unlike many cities in the United States. It is crowded, people walking, shopping, many food vendors line the streets. At night the "Red Light" district in the east part of the city becomes increasingly crowded. Again, while clearly immoral and wrong, not unlike so many American cities. The biggest difference? Many of these "working ladies' should be in middle school.

Now enter Sister Isabel Alontaga and her small band of nuns. These brave ladies form rescue operations alongside the roads in a community called Camagayan, a hotbed for the Fillipino sex trade. These rescue teams consist of up to six nuns, trained volinteer lay people and are part of an Apostolate that reach out to prostituted women and girls. They distribute rosaries; phone numbers where the girls can get help. Most of all they distribute love. They distribute hope.

The groups foundress is a lady named Coazon Salazar who started the Apostolate in 1996 as a lay woman. In 2000, it was officially established as Mary Queen of Heaven Missionaries by Cardinal (retired) Ricardo Vidal. In 2003, Ms Salazar, was an officially professed Sister and the order was canonically erected as a Public Association of the Faithful.

The Mission of this order is to "seek the lost and fallen by the wayside, and work to bring them back to the bosom of the Father so that there may be one flock under one Shephard",

It seems to me that is exactly what we try to do as Brother Knights. Let us pray that this mission be successful so that all innocence lost will somehow be found again, and that no child shall have to lead a life of prostituion, or indentured labor of any kind.

Pope Francis

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb” (Mt 28:1). We can picture them as they went on their way... They walked like people going to a cemetery, with uncertain and weary steps, like those who find it hard to believe that this is how it all ended. We can picture their faces, pale and tearful. And their question: can Love have truly died? Unlike the disciples, the women are present – just as they had been present as the Master breathed his last on the cross, and then, with Joseph of Arimathea, as he was laid in the tomb. Two women who did not run away, who remained steadfast, who faced life as it is and who knew the bitter taste of injustice. We see them there, before the tomb, filled with grief but equally incapable of accepting that things must always end this way. 

Mardi Gras 2017

On February 28, Council 10208 revived one of their most attended and popular events.  That was, of course, the Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday dinner and dance.  A special thanks for Brother and Sir Knight Danny Murphy for grabbing the bull by the horns and taking on this time consuming endeavor!

Their were two choices of food at this amazing event.  Shrimp creole, prepared by Danny, and chicken and sausage jambalaya prepared by Ed Miller.  Ed also donated all of the ingredients for his tasty dish.  This awesome meal was topped off by red velvet cheesecake!

There was plenty of music and an open bar, so the fun went on well after dinner and into the night.  This event raised about $3800 for the Knights of Columbus Council 10208 local charities!  Here's to hoping this wonderful event continues for many years to come.  A special thank you goes out to all of the Knight's wives, the kitchen crew, and the bartenders for making this a truly spectacular evening.

special olympics

For those of you that missed it, you missed a truly extraordinary display of the Human Spirit.  Athletes from all over the state, having already won their districts, came to Searcy, AR on May 26 through 28 to compete for the best in Arkansas.  Moreover, to show us all how to deal with adversity with a childlike love and enthusiasm that can only come from God.. 

Some 38 volunteers from Council 10208, headed by Fred and Joan Junger, came together to make this event even more memorable for these athletes by once again staging our own Olympic Town.  This allowed the participants in these games to enjoy fun and fellowship with other athletes, and the volunteers, outside  the field of athletic competition.  There was bead making, basketball, ring toss, and bag toss, with prizes given out to everyone who participated.