FROM THE MOUTHS OF BABES

From the Mouths of Babes

Sometimes we talk our talk and plan our strategies on what
and how we need to approach recruiting new knights. We
think and use buzz words and fancy terms and never seem to
deliver the right message. Some of us who have been knights
for 5 years to over 30 and 40 years struggle with the right
reasons to become a knight. This weekend I had the privilege
to work with so many great people and as they passed through
the Kino room to talk about the problems we all face in
recruitment and retention.



I found a much smaller group of people who came with
their dads and in some cases their grandads and moms and
grandmas to help because they had to but they did it well.
I talked to most of them and gathered their feelings and
thoughts which were pure and simple and honest and genuine.
I enjoyed each of them; give me them in 10 years and watch
out. I could conquer the world.


We sometimes forget about  the contribution of young people however I was able to
obtain a clear understanding of some of their feelings and
ideas. But there was one who stands out above them all. She
is a very sweet 10 year old who is the daughter of one of our
knights and co-chairman of the PWID drive, Al Velosa. Her
name is Arianna. She made me blush with her writing on the
whiteboard in the Kino Room. This is what she wrote:
“Reasons to Join the Knights of Columbus

1. It’s fun
2. You help people in need
3. You meet new people
4. You get to do different things
5. You learn different things
Can You Think of More???!!!???”

She wrote this on the whiteboard and left it there for us to
look at and think about as she joined her dad, big brother and
younger sister on another hour of coverage at Walmart.
She wrote this after reading and remembering that the
inside of the Tootsie Roll wrapper states that there are 1.7
million knights and that over $1 billion dollars went to
community service programs. It also states that it takes over
594 million hours of volunteer work to support those
programs.

All I can say is Arianna could teach us all a thing or two about
what counts and how to approach life and maybe the solution
to our recruitment approach. Above everything else, this
young 10 year old took $20 of her saved allowance money and
contributed that money to the PWID Fund. Those of you
who have experienced bringing up children can understand
what an exceptional thing this was for her to do.

She gets a huge star in my book and deserves a thank you
from all of us. By the way, she was just the one who rose above
the others; each of the children who helped us deserve stars for
their helping us as well.

Brother Fred Falgiano