Holy Spirit Council No. 11661

11300 W 103RD ST OVERLAND PARK KS 66214

Website: http://kofc11661.com/

Minutes of June 30, 2022, Special Meeting

Call to Order: Grand Knight, Jim Easterday, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

Warden’s Report: The meeting was held in the Holy Spirit Catholic Church’s Martha and Mary room.

Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance: The Grand Knight led the Council in prayer and the in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Roll Call: Officers missing at the meeting were the excused Officers consisting of the Deputy Grand Knight, and Chaplain, and absent Officers, the Advocate, the Warden, the 2nd Year Trustee, the 3rd Year Trustee, and the Lecturer. Sixteen (16) members were present and duly recognized.

  The Grand Knight announced to the Council he had received an e-mail from the State Council passing on the letter the State Council received from the Bishops of the State of Kansas. The letter from the Bishops dealt with the upcoming “Value them Both Kansas Constitutional Amendment Initiative” to be voted on by the people of Kansas on August 2, 2022. The Grand Knight read both the e-mail and the letter of the Bishops in itheir entirety to the members of the Council.

  Among other things, the letter informed the Council of the Bishops desire to raise $1.7 million to be used to support the Amendment. Of the $1.7 million desired by the Bishops, the Bishops were seeking from the Knights of Columbus Councils of the State of Kansas $300,000 as their portion of funds for this project.

  The Grand Knight reported to the Council of the $300,000 sought by the Bishops from the Councils of the State of Kansas, he reported the Councils of the State had raised $110,000 and therefore were $190,000 short of the requested amount. Since voting on the State Amendment takes place on August 2 and the requested funds needed to be received by July 5th, a Special Meeting was necessary because our regular meeting was not scheduled until July 14, 2022. A special meeting was required in order to timely consider and respond to the request of the Bishops of Kansas. Therefore, he called this meeting.

  Thereafter the Grand Knight called upon the Treasurer, Tom Spencer, to provide a treasurer’s report to the Council. Tom gave this financial report:

Current Bank Balance  :   $29,736.31

Less Funds Earmarked:

Coats For Kids $ 6,425.34

Seminarians $ 3,357.00

Baby Bottle Collections $ 3,602.05

Effective Balance     $16,351.92

  The Grand Knight informed the Council approximately $1,600 of the ‘‘Effective Balance‘‘ needs to be earmarked for an upcoming Council obligation. Otherwise the balance of the money is available to address the request of the Bishops of the State of Kansas. Thereafter, the matter was open to the floor for questions and comments.

  A motion was made to give $10,000 towards the Bishops request to support the Amendment in response to the State Council’s e-mail. The motion was seconded and a discussion followed. The need to maintain at least a balance of $10,000 was discussed. After all questions were answered and comments made three Knights stood and pledged donations to the Council to replensih Council’s funds should this motion be passed in the amounts as follows: $2,000, $1000, and $500.

  Further, the Grand Knight informed the Council he had been contacted by other Brother Knights of contributions without any guarantees on whether the contributions would go to the Council or directly to the Bishop’s campaign request.

  With tthe above information regarding the purpose of the meeting, the pledges for reimbursement to the Council, and the purported promises from other Fellow Knights the motion to contribute $10,000 to the Bishops‘ caimpaign to support the Amendment Initiative was put to the floor for a vote.

  The vote count was 10 yeas, and

        5 nays.

  The Grand Knight said he checked the by-laws prior to the meeting and said a funding of this amount required a two-third majority (2/3) for passage. Without his vote, there is exactly a two-third majority(2/3). Motion passed.

With the stated business purpose of the Special Meeting being addressed, the meeting was then adjourned at 7:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Everett Fritz, Recorder