I was surprised at how quiet September became. There were not a lot of actions required of the District Deputy during the month. However, I did see quite a bit of communications from both the Supreme and the State Councils. Most of the communications were also addressed to all Grand Knights, so the GKs will pass along the information either in their review of communications or as a part of the Grand Knight report during business meetings.

During September, most of the Councils geared up for recruiting and have conducted or are planning to conduct a recruiting drive. I encourage all Councils to stay with it, to follow up and contact those prospects you met at the drives. An Open House night can go a long way to getting a prospects signature on the Form 100. Consider inviting the prospects family to get a glimpse of what your Council is. Include your Field Agent in the Open House. He has a prepared presentation that is an excellent summation of the Knights of Columbus. Most FAs do not make a sales pitch about the insurance, rather the focus on the benefits to the family that the Order has other than just the fraternal insurance.

Every Council is preparing for the annual People with Intellectual Disabilities campaign in October. Some Councils are planning Tootsie Roll hand-outs, and others are doing additional activities such as car washes to raise contributions. There are a lot of suggestions in the materials that the each Council receives and are provided to your PWID chairman. Be creative but go with what is or has been successful in your parishes in the past.

PWID contributions can come in to your Council throughout the remainder of the year. Some Councils continue seeking donations through collections at Masses, or contribution bottles placed in local stores. Whatever your Council does to extend the donations, please ensure that your Council follows the protocols for monies collected from the public. Most of us have been involved with the PWID for years, and many of us have tried or level best to comply with the fiscal rules. As I listened to all the guidance and discussions, it seems to be simple. Once you have a sum of collections, there will be cash and checks. Take the cash to your bank and get a cashier’s check for the amount. Yes, there may be a fee the bank charges for it, and that can be aither a Council expense or you can list it as an expense of the PWID on the summary form. Take the cashier’s check and all the other checks and send them to Columbian Charities. The key here is that the Council does not endorse the checks. Endorsing the checks is the equivalent of comingling funds and it removes them from the charitable contribution category. Our Councils are 501.c.3 entities, and contributions to them are not deductible by the donor. Columbian Charities is a 501.c.8, and contributions to them are deductible.

Please contact Brother Bill Glover or me if there are any questions about how to handle the funds you collect. Also remember that you can send collected funds to Columbian Charities throughout the year. Do not hold them for any length of time.

One item of concern has been a lack of response to Councils when Columbian Charities receives the funds. If you share this concern I recommend the use of a return receipt when you mail the funds to them. Until we implement either a direct deposit or deposit-on-line scheme, this will ensure Councils have documentation for their records.

Good luck on a successful PWID campaign.

Vivat Jesus!,