Our council is named for The Reverend Father Marvin F. Collins. He was the first pastor of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Mission in Sour Lake from March 24, 1921 until June 17, 1936. Father Collins led the small Catholic community in Sour Lake through extremely difficult times. In the 1920's, the Ku Klux Klan had a very strong presence in Sour Lake, a presence that was very much anti-Catholic. Crosses were burned in front of the church, church windows were broken, a Catholic teacher was fired from the school and a black member of the church was severely beaten. Father Collins and the Catholic community remained steadfast in their commitment to the small mission. Today, some 65 years later, the Catholic community in Sour Lake has grown to nearly 300 families and is a highly respected and integral part of our town.
BACK TO THE TABLE
Grand Knight: James Kaiser Past Grank Knight: Thomas Lee Thibodeaux Chaplain: Father Walter Montondon Deputy Grand Knight: Bob Phipps Chancellor: Gordon Cabra Recorder: Terry Watson Financial Secretary: Glen Radley Treasurer: Dean McClelland Lecturer: Kenneth Prince The Advocate: Vernon Lejeune Warden: Nolan "Red" Morgan Inside Guard: Mark Randall Outside Guard: Lawrence Plaisance Outside Guard: Bob Cobb Trustee 3rd Year: Chuck Whitaker Trustee 2nd Year: Neal Jacobs Trustee 1st Year: Vernon Lejeune District Deputy: Insurance Agent: James Braus
January: Generally a pretty calm month with everyone recovering from the holidays and Holydays. One of our biggest fund-raisers kick off this month. Surrounding the bulletin board in our hall is a large back-board. We sell 6"x12" spaces for full color "logo" signs to local companies who wish to support our council. These signs are posted on the back-board for one year. Each space is $50 and we have their sign made and cover the expense which is generally about $6-$10 per sign. Some companies buy 2 or 3 spaces to enable them to put up large signs. We have room for about 100 spaces. So far this year we have sold about 80 spaces.
February: Annual Blood Drive & BBQ. Like the rest of the nation we too have a perrenial blood shortage. At least once a year we invite the Southeast Texas Blood Center to our hall. We furnish free BBQ dinners to all blood doners and sell dinners to the public. This year we collected 41 pints of blood and sold about 400 dinners. The profit from the sales allowed us to donate $1000 to Eastex HomeCare Services in Sour Lake to help supply medicine to those in need in our community. Also this February, we had an emergency BBQ Benefit for a family here in Sour Lake: A young man was killed leaving his wife and 3 small children with large medical and funeral expenses. Several of our members are good friends of the family so we decided to have a fund-raiser. We sold over 600 dinners and raised $3006 for the family. We raised a lot of eyebrows, too. You see, this family was not Catholic.
March: This month brings our second large fund-raiser: Palm Sales! We gang up about 3-4 weeks before Palm Sunday and hit the woods in search of perfect palmetto hearts. The palmetto heart is the unopened leaf in the center of some, not all, palmetto plants. The hearts can be opened and individual leaflets stripped apart producing 20-30 perfect palms for Palm Sunday. Since this area is a little damp (understatement, believe me, we have webbed toes in Southeast Texas), palmettos grow in profusion. We then sell 10 hearts to a "bundle" for $10. Stripped bundles are $13 and full palmetto fans are $1 each. Currently we have 50 churches as customers. In nine frantic days this year this year we picked 4300 hearts, hand cleaned each one, sorted them according to size culling the undesirable ones, hand-stripped 51 bundles (that's about 12,000 indivual palm fronds), and filled the shipping boxes. In total we shipped 380 bundles (that's 3800 hearts). Whew!
April: We take a Break! Well, just a little one. Applications for the Sour Lake Knights of Columbus Scholarship start rolling in. Our Scholarship committee screens the applicants and decides on a candidate. The council votes to approve and the candidate is awarded a $250 apon his or her graduation. This year we will be giving away 2 scholarships to worthy Christian young people.
May: Scholarships are awarded at the graduation ceremonies. Also in May we will generally have a raffle. Some years it will be a shotgun for the May squirrel season. Last year we raffled a 12 HP riding lawnmower with a trailer. Very successful! We do have an awesome grass growing season around here!
June, July, August: Summer vacation tends to put a hold on big projects. We try to do a little work on the hall, and we work at the church.
September: The kids go back to school (At Last!) and the council gets back to normal. We begin our Annual Rifle Raffle in which we will raffle a beautiful bolt action firearm with a scope. Whitetail deer season is a MAJOR event in Texas.
October: The major event is the annual Old Timers' Day Festival. A small town fair with rides, food and music, Old Timers' Day is a pretty big event. Our Council usually has a booth where we serve BBQ, gumbo or chili. We also host the Old Timers' Day Dance. This month also brings preparations for our "K.C. Christmas For Kids". We work with the CYO and begin collecting new and previously loved stuffed animals, huggable dolls, and tricycles and bicycles.
November: Deer Season, Football, Thanksgiving! Need I say more? This month's event is the annual Holy Name Society Chicken BBQ the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The HNS is Our Lady Of Victory's church service organization, all members of our Parish participate. Of, course, our K.C.'s are very involved. We will help cook and serve around 600 dinners.
December: The "K.C. Christmas For Kids" is the primary focus this month. The bikes and trikes are refurbished, and the stuffed animals and dolls collected. We box them and bag them and take them to the Hardin County Victims Assistance Center the week before Christmas for their annual Christmas party. Last year we helped to bring a Merry Christmas to over 100 of the youngest victims of violent crime and abuse in our area. I strongly urge all the KC councils to get involved in an event like this. It will touch your heart as much as it touches the hearts of the kids.
The formation of our council was directly due to the hard work, diligence and organizational skills of our first Grand Knight, Mr. L.J. Ledet. L.J. was a driving force behind our council until he passed away November 6, 1997. He organized and headed up the sign sales and palm business. He was instrumental in the purchase and remodelling of our council's hall, which has been named "Ledet Hall". We were chartered in May of 1993 with 38 members. With the exception of 3 who have passed away all are still members today. For the first 2 years we met at Our Lady Of Victory's church hall. In 1994 we purchased an older building, moved it to a lot and it became our very own hall. In 1995 we added on a kitchen, game room and storage. Last year we finally completed the kitchen and game room interiors. We are in the process of retrofitting the restrooms and installing tile in the main meeting room. Currently we have 59 very involved members.
1993: 38 members.
1994: 46 members
1995: 51 members
1996: 55 members
1997: 59 members
We also have 20 members who are 4th Degree members of the deLaSalle Assembly in Beaumont, Texas.
We are located in downtown (?) Sour Lake, Texas next to City Hall and the Police Station
Knights Of Columbus Council #11151
Barkley Street
P.O. Box 1043
Sour Lake, Texas 77659
1-(409) 287-2966
Sour Lake, Texas is a quiet community of almost 2000 souls located in Southeast Texas about 20 miles northwest of Beaumont. Located on the southern edge of "The Big Thicket" we are blessed with abundant rainfall, warm weather and fertile soil. Outside activities play a major role in our lives. We are close to the Gulf of Mexico, Sabine Lake and the Galveston Bay System which allows for great salt-water fishing. For fresh-water activities, such as fishing and skiing, we are also close to 2 major reservoirs, Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend; 3 major rivers, the Sabine, the Neches, and the Trinity; and smaller tributaries such as the Pine Island Bayou and Village Creek. A varied terrain provides for abundant hunting: woodlands for deer, squirrel and hogs, farm fields for doves and marshes for ducks, geese and alligators. We have several nice golf courses in the area and the climate allows for year-round play.
Any of the officers, or members, can be contacted. We're all in the phonebook..
Beaucoup! (That's Cajun-talk for: "So many I can't keep track of them any more!")
Several of our members are on the District Degree Team and serve the entire Southeast Texas area.
Our council proudly sponsors Bishop Ganter Columbian Squires Circle # 4327. Currently we have 12 fine young men as members. Our Squires meet on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month at the council hall. We also sponsor Boy Scout Troop 351 in Sour Lake. One of our members, Bryan Ready, is scout master. Some of our members act as substitute scout master or a subject matter experts for merit badge work. The scouts meet each Monday at the Parish hall.
The Family of the Year for 1996 was Neal and Gloria Jacobs. Not only is Neal a charter member and our present Grand Knight, he always sells the most raffle tickets and is an award-winning BBQ Brisket Chef. Mrs. Gloria, a wonderful cook herself, is always available when we need help. She's also a great salt-water fisherperson.
The Knight of the Year for 1996 was L.J. Ledet. L.J. was the lifeblood of our council and remains our inspiration, what more can I say?
Our hall is 2000 square feet and contains a fully equipped kitchen. The main room is approximately 1400 square feet, perfect for small parties or gatherings of about 50 people. We charge $75 for non-members and $50 for members per night. A clean-up deposit is required.
We meet on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month. If a month has a 5th Thursday, we hold a "pot luck" social. All members, their wives and any prospective members and their wives are invited. Of course, we have Neal's Famous BBQ Brisket at every social!
On Monday nights we open for "The Good Of The Order". We are open to all K.C.'s with travelling cards. Come on by and join us if you are ever in the area!
Membership in the Knights of Columbus is open to practical Catholic men in union with the Holy See, who shall not be less than 18 years of age on their last birthday. A practical Catholic is one who lives up to the Commandments of God and the precepts of the Church. Application blanks are available from any member of the Knights of Columbus. Every knight is happy to propose eligible Catholic men for consideration as members.
Acceptance of the applicant depends upon a vote of the members of the subordinate council in which he is making application.
All priests and religious brothers having duly made application for membership and participated in the ceremonials become honorary life members of the Order and are exempt from payment of dues.
Application for membership must be made through the council in the community nearest the applicant's place of residence. Interested prospects without a permanent domicile, such as men temporarily away from home through duty in the armed forces, may make application through their hometown council or at the nearest council on a military base.
If favorably voted upon, the applicant becomes a member by initiation known as the First Degree. He subsequently is advanced through the Second Degree and the Third Degree.
There are modest initiation fees and dues set by subordinate councils under regulations established by the Supreme Council. The insurance privileges are available to all members who can qualify, which represents an important advantage of membership. For men in every walk of life the name Knights of Columbus engenders the image of a united organization, efficiently going about it tasks of charity, unity, fraternity, patriotism and defense of the priesthood. It is composed of men who are giving unselfishly of their time and talents in service of God and their country.
Membership in the Knights of Columbus provides opportunity for wholesome association with congenial companions who are, first of all, practical Catholic gentlemen. It offers the opportunity for fellowship with those who are of the same belief, who recognize the same duty to God, to family and to neighbor and who stand side by side in defense of those beliefs. Programs are so organized as to appeal to the individual interest of the members. Through many constructive activities of Christian fraternity, members are enabled to render service to their Church, their country and their fellowman. Through membership they develop a consciousness of their ability to lead and to assist.
Organized Columbianism, united behind the individual Knight of Columbus, provides the power of an intelligent, alert body of Catholic men--a strength which the individual by himself cannot achieve.
Knights of Columbus has a proud heritage. The qualified Catholic man can share in that heritage and build an even greater future by affiliating himself with this forceful, effective body.
Another degree open to members of the Knights of Columbus is that of the Fourth (or Patriotic) Degree. On February 22, 1900, the first exemplification of that degree was held in New York City. The ritual added patriotism to the three original principles of the Order: charit, unity and fraternity. Any Third Degree member in good standing, one year after the anniversary of his First Degree, is eligible for membership in the Fourth Degree.
The primary purpose of the Fourth Degree is to foster the spirit of partiotism by promoting responsible citizenship and a love of and loyalty to the Knights' respective countries through active membership in local Fourth Degree groups called assemblies. Fourth Degree members must retain their membership as Third Degree members in the local council to remain in good standing.
Certain members of the Fourth Degree serve as honor guards at civic and religious functions, an activity which has brought worldwide recognition to the Knights of Columbus organization.
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