May 22, 2017
Brothers,
If you were able to attend this year's 110th Annual State Convention this past weekend in Scottsdale I hope you had a great time.
We tried something new this year with the Friday Award Dinner. I had asked the host Council, #10062 from Phoenix, if they were willing to try an idea that has worked well in some other states. They were up to the task and decided to have a Western Theme dinner and dance. One of the highlights of the evening were the selection of the best dressed man, woman and couple. Congratulations to the winners.
Based on the large number of positive comments we received we plan to do this again next year when Council 8077 hosts our State Convention at the Tucson El Conquistador Resort. They will work with me to pick a theme for next year. We don't know yet what it will be except that it will be different than the Western Theme used this year.
For those not able to attend I need to share with you exciting news. At the start of the meeting on Friday we were only 1 new member behind in recruiting than we were at the start of the Convention last year. Why I mention this is to remind us that we all pitched in the last 6 weeks of last Fraternal Year and went out and recruited new members and retained current members during the same six weeks in numbers we had not seen before in Arizona.
As a young man growing up my parents would remind me that doing something the first time was always the hardest. Once you succeeded you knew you could do it and the next time would be easier.
I don't claim that to make the same push this year will be easier, but I truly believe that together we can repeat history. Arizona has not had back to back Circle of Honor years since Stan Schroeder was State Deputy from 2007-2009. Even though most of us live in the desert, that is a long dry spell for a State Council that has the long and rich history that the Arizona Knights of Columbus have. Remember that the Arizona State Council is 4 years older than the State of Arizona and some of our Councils are even older than that.
Just as IPSD Larry Becker did last year I am again coming to you and asking for your efforts to recruit and bring into our Order new members. If each delegate that represented you and your Council recruited just 1 new member each before June 30th we would return to the Circle of Honor.
This push will also help many Council reach Star Council status. Supreme has renewed their program to rebate $4.50 per billable member to each Council that achieves Star Council. For our average Council size of 120 members that is over $500 of free money just for doing what we are committed to do by our pledges to grow the Order and support our Bishops and Priests.
I thank you in advance for your efforts and commitment to serve our Bishops, Parishes, Communities with a strong and active army of Catholic Gentlemen.
Vivat Jesus,
Sean Halpain
State Deputy
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