Council 11103 Knight/* of the Year Award Winners

At the Luncheon WGK Kent Siefkes announced and presented the FY2024-25 Fr. Robert T. Lawson Council 11103 winners of the Knight of the Year, Family of the Year, Golden Knight of the Year, and (presented at the July 10th GM meeting) Rookie of the Year.

Congratulations to all of the winners of these well-deserved awards!

The Fr. Robert T Lawson Council 11103 has awarded Dan and Laura Bryson, and their five children Adelaide(14), Grant(12), Miles(11), Evelyn(8), and Bennett(3) as Family of the Year. We recognize the Bryson family, beginning with Dan’s active involvement in the local Pinehurst Sacred Heart Catholic Church’s chapter of the national Paradisus Dei’s men’s group, “That Man is You”, which meets every Saturday at 6:45 am (to ensure that the rest of the day is available for family time). Dan is one of the small group leaders, and openly shares his faith and thoughtful insights into spiritual life. Dan also volunteers as a Eucharistic minister to the sick at the local hospital, where he works as the Director of Anesthesia. We recognize Laura, who spends most of her days homeschooling their children, beginning each school day with prayer and bible reading, and ensuring that their home life nurtures their faith in God. Their three oldest children Adelaide, Grant, and Miles provide outstanding service to the parish as Altar Servers. They love serving and are well-known by many in the parish as a dependable mainstay in this ministry. The family prays the rosary daily and practices regular confession. In summary, we recognize the whole family for their strong Catholic faith-based family life and their dedication and service to our parish. They truly are role models and an inspiration to our Sacred Heart parish for living out Catholic Family Life.

The Fr. Robert T Lawson Council 11103 has awarded Joseph (Joe) Chavez as Knight of the Year. Joe is the epitome of what it means to be a Knight of Columbus. He is always eager to help anywhere and anytime, regardless of the difficulty of the job. He rolls up his sleeves and works as long as it takes to finish the job, never leaving early. Joe is one of the key leaders in our council and this year serves the council as a Two-Year Trustee. He is the Chair of our Keep Christ in Christmas Program, where he led sales of Christmas Cards at all the masses at Sacred Heart Catholic Church for three consecutive weekends in November. As a result of these efforts, he was awarded the council’s December Knight of the Month. Joe also served as a lead of the Knight’s Outdoor sales portion of our parish’s white elephant sale, which led to a net of $4,500 raised by our council, our largest annual fundraiser. This was an 8-day eDort totaling over 275 council hours transporting furniture and goods, putting up tents, pricing and selling hundreds of goods, and teardown, with Joe involved in every aspect and working almost every day of the sale. Other standout efforts undertaken by Joe this past year included working the refreshments and kitchen for our two large parish dinners for St. Patrick’s Day and Columbus Day. Joe worked nearly 12-hour days for both events, starting with prep and setup, and not leaving until the kitchen pots were scrubbed and the floor was mopped. Joe even took home the Knight’s table banners to wash them, and a stubborn pot to finish cleaning it. Joe is a Sir Knight and retired military and participated in our Knights’ 9/11 and Veterans Day Ceremonies for our Parish, as well as helping install U.S. flags on our parish grounds for these and other patriotic holidays throughout the year. Joe was a regular participant in our monthly Bingo fundraisers, and the lead grill master at the St. John Paul II Catholic School Festival. Joe also worked our Parish Day of Reflection given by our State Chaplain Rev. William Lesak and our very successful Membership Drive the same weekend. He helped with the installation and removal of our parish Outdoor Nativity Creche, and the erection of three large wooden crosses for parishioners to reflect on Jesus’s sacrifice on Calvary during the Lenten season. While not all the council events Joe worked at over the course of the year, these are representative of his service and dedication to our council. Joe is a model Knight who steadfastly exemplifies the Knights of Columbus principles of charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism.

The Fr. Robert T Lawson Council 11103 has awarded Jaymes Liles as Family of the Year.   Jaymes joined our council at the April 4th, 2024 Exemplification.  We recognize Jaymes for jumping right in and volunteering to fill the open Family Director position.  He stepped up to lead the introduction of the Faith and Family Sunday Night Movie Series, with four nights showing Season 1 of The Chosen in August, which were very well received, and we look forward to continuing with future Seasons and other faith-based movies for the parish.   The council recognized Jaymes for his efforts as the August Knight of the Month, an award well deserved.

Jaymes then volunteered to head up another new program for our council, a recognition event for our parish altar servers.  Jaymes organized a Miniature Golf outing at Wee Pines in Pinehurst in October, working with the altar server scheduling lead to invite all the altar servers and their families to the event along with clergy and deacons.  A good time was had by all the altar servers as they golfed 18 holes with their families and enjoyed ice cream treats and social time at the 18th hole.  The success of the event and the appreciation from the altar servers and parents convinced the Grand Knight that this should be a regular event going forward in future fraternal years.