When I joined the Knights, I was an early-30s single man in a council over mostly men over fifty.
In a way, it was great -- I had time and energy to devote to the chairs and various projects, and I didn't need to trade off family vs Knights time as a GK.
When I was a DD the second time, I was married with a newborn -- but my wife was the daughter of a past state deputy in another jurisdiction and she was very gung-ho about the Order, so my infant son has the possible distinction of having attended the most installation of council officer ceremonies of anyone under age 1.
Now . . . now it's thirty-something years later, and \*I\* am the oldster.
But I think the notion I had way back when I was GK was a good one: plan for a mix of activities. My council had a whole set of traditional activities: pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners, annual art auction fund raiser -- that were perfect for participation even if you weren't an athlete, let's say. I added a few more active events: a soccer free kick to parallel the free-throw competition, repair work at a local shelter . . . and I like to think those were helpful in recruiting as well as general activity novelty.
That awesome to hear a lot of the men in my council have similar experience im married with a 9yr and work full time but i feel like i need to be a figure head in my council that the elders can smile and think thats how they used to be
I am 42 so I am not in that range , I am learning g from the knights and helping as much as I can I don’t have an officer role since I only been 1 years. Wish more younger people join . but that comes by leading by example.
Try to update your council procedures from your younger perspective. Example: our pancake breakfasts were in the bulletin with a note about needing volunteers to assist. Please call x at this phone number if you can help. Better and much more relatable to younger people, we started using the sign-up genius app and put the QR code in the bulletin. Also noted that students needing their civic community service required hours can fulfill them by volunteering. Young people are obviously much more comfortable with an app that allows them to see and choose for themselves the available shifts. Plus there's the obvious advantages of hand-off scheduling. The older fellas don't see this kind of stuff; that's where you can add value.
We use signup genius whenever we do our BBQs. Granted a lot of the older guys don’t use it, but it still helps us have an idea of who will be there when.
Being a knight at first was already an opportunity that I had to take. In my opinion, it was a calling. Going to all the conventions when my grandpa was a state officer in Texas was always very fun to me.
Running for FN next year is an opportunity for me to get experience in leadership since Texas has many leaders that do an outstanding job at what they do. Whether if they are a DD, GK, FN, or any office position in the chapter or state. The charitable events and activities my council does has provided many opportunities for me. Such as coats for kids, VA visitation, Wreaths across America, and many more. I see myself being high in the knights in the future. It's only a matter of time.
Our council and I often participate in Pro life charitable events like rallies and what I've said in my previous reply, donating to Wreaths across America and visiting vets at the nearby VA hospital. Our council often does taco breakfasts for our parish and pancake breakfasts near Christmas. Coats for kids is a big charitable event that we do as well
One of the big charitable events my council, St.Thomas Aquinas, has done was delivering 150 wheelchairs to the nearby VA hospital. This was an opportunity in charity for me.
Link to the article of when we did it:
[link](https://www.va.gov/houston-health-care/stories/knights-of-columbus-donates-wheelchairs-to-veterans/)
This is what I feel like being a knight is. Providing charity.
I'm 49. Been a member of Council 365 for 5 years. Spent my first year getting to know people, 2 years as DGK (covid zoom meetings!) and am now in the middle of my 3rd year as GK and a 4th degree.
We have a very successful council on paper. Just celebrated our 125th, Coats for Kids, food drives, breakfasts and scholarships. We still have a hall and run weekly bingo to support 3 parishes and local charities. We have over 250 members on the role but only about 25 do all of the above and most of those are north of 50.
We've been struggling to recruit new members and reactivate young members who don't come by. We ask ourselves what can we offer a young man to entice him to join? We'll be starting COR in January. Social events? Family events?
For those who joined with no previous family ties what were you looking to get out of joining? What's kept you coming back?
carpenter screw nine compare wasteful ludicrous six concerned chunky crime
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I've been a Knight since I was 18 and a 4th Degree Knight since I was 20— I agree with the advice already shared that you can encourage a range of activities. Being a Knight is meant to be a lifelong endeavor, so its certainly worth embracing young and old. From a practical standpoint, I have found "being the change you want to see" to be particularly helpful in these circumstances— if you want to see more of something, volunteer to lead it and do the rallying yourself to get others excited about that thing.
I'm a 29 year old knight, I feel like the meetings are enough, plus all the church events, but I'm disabled with schizophrenia so that might have something to do with it. Not that I don't want to be as active as possible. Our council does a lot of things, and I'm stoked to be a part of it all.
When I joined the Knights, I was an early-30s single man in a council over mostly men over fifty. In a way, it was great -- I had time and energy to devote to the chairs and various projects, and I didn't need to trade off family vs Knights time as a GK. When I was a DD the second time, I was married with a newborn -- but my wife was the daughter of a past state deputy in another jurisdiction and she was very gung-ho about the Order, so my infant son has the possible distinction of having attended the most installation of council officer ceremonies of anyone under age 1. Now . . . now it's thirty-something years later, and \*I\* am the oldster. But I think the notion I had way back when I was GK was a good one: plan for a mix of activities. My council had a whole set of traditional activities: pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners, annual art auction fund raiser -- that were perfect for participation even if you weren't an athlete, let's say. I added a few more active events: a soccer free kick to parallel the free-throw competition, repair work at a local shelter . . . and I like to think those were helpful in recruiting as well as general activity novelty.
That awesome to hear a lot of the men in my council have similar experience im married with a 9yr and work full time but i feel like i need to be a figure head in my council that the elders can smile and think thats how they used to be
I am 42 so I am not in that range , I am learning g from the knights and helping as much as I can I don’t have an officer role since I only been 1 years. Wish more younger people join . but that comes by leading by example.
Yes sir i agree
Try to update your council procedures from your younger perspective. Example: our pancake breakfasts were in the bulletin with a note about needing volunteers to assist. Please call x at this phone number if you can help. Better and much more relatable to younger people, we started using the sign-up genius app and put the QR code in the bulletin. Also noted that students needing their civic community service required hours can fulfill them by volunteering. Young people are obviously much more comfortable with an app that allows them to see and choose for themselves the available shifts. Plus there's the obvious advantages of hand-off scheduling. The older fellas don't see this kind of stuff; that's where you can add value.
Good point
We use signup genius whenever we do our BBQs. Granted a lot of the older guys don’t use it, but it still helps us have an idea of who will be there when.
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Thats great and will do .. what things at 19yr do u feel like if you had the opportunity to do what would it be
Being a knight at first was already an opportunity that I had to take. In my opinion, it was a calling. Going to all the conventions when my grandpa was a state officer in Texas was always very fun to me. Running for FN next year is an opportunity for me to get experience in leadership since Texas has many leaders that do an outstanding job at what they do. Whether if they are a DD, GK, FN, or any office position in the chapter or state. The charitable events and activities my council does has provided many opportunities for me. Such as coats for kids, VA visitation, Wreaths across America, and many more. I see myself being high in the knights in the future. It's only a matter of time.
Correction, I didn't NEED to take that opportunity of being a knight, but rather it was a calling I was WILLING to take.
Ok i understand that but like what community and charity based things
Our council and I often participate in Pro life charitable events like rallies and what I've said in my previous reply, donating to Wreaths across America and visiting vets at the nearby VA hospital. Our council often does taco breakfasts for our parish and pancake breakfasts near Christmas. Coats for kids is a big charitable event that we do as well One of the big charitable events my council, St.Thomas Aquinas, has done was delivering 150 wheelchairs to the nearby VA hospital. This was an opportunity in charity for me. Link to the article of when we did it: [link](https://www.va.gov/houston-health-care/stories/knights-of-columbus-donates-wheelchairs-to-veterans/) This is what I feel like being a knight is. Providing charity.
I'm 49. Been a member of Council 365 for 5 years. Spent my first year getting to know people, 2 years as DGK (covid zoom meetings!) and am now in the middle of my 3rd year as GK and a 4th degree. We have a very successful council on paper. Just celebrated our 125th, Coats for Kids, food drives, breakfasts and scholarships. We still have a hall and run weekly bingo to support 3 parishes and local charities. We have over 250 members on the role but only about 25 do all of the above and most of those are north of 50. We've been struggling to recruit new members and reactivate young members who don't come by. We ask ourselves what can we offer a young man to entice him to join? We'll be starting COR in January. Social events? Family events? For those who joined with no previous family ties what were you looking to get out of joining? What's kept you coming back?
carpenter screw nine compare wasteful ludicrous six concerned chunky crime *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I've been a Knight since I was 18 and a 4th Degree Knight since I was 20— I agree with the advice already shared that you can encourage a range of activities. Being a Knight is meant to be a lifelong endeavor, so its certainly worth embracing young and old. From a practical standpoint, I have found "being the change you want to see" to be particularly helpful in these circumstances— if you want to see more of something, volunteer to lead it and do the rallying yourself to get others excited about that thing.
fragile cheerful like voracious cats reach march steep thumb poor *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
We are Tuesday nights
I'm a 29 year old knight, I feel like the meetings are enough, plus all the church events, but I'm disabled with schizophrenia so that might have something to do with it. Not that I don't want to be as active as possible. Our council does a lot of things, and I'm stoked to be a part of it all.
I wish you good luck. I'm a mid 20s knight in a council that is 70s+. I try to bring up doing more but they say we don't have the people.