(5-8-23) The 2023 Celina Knights of Columbus Awards were awarded recently to Knight of the Year Doug Wolters and Family of the Year Kevin and Karen Riesen.

2023 Knight of the Year:  Doug Wolters

These past two years Doug has headed up our Measure Up campaign. This year’s campaign set a new record for the Celina Council. Over $5,800 was collected last weekend. Doug was able to secure 83 Knights to volunteer their time to help in this project. In two weeks, Doug is planning to represent Council 1800 as our official delegate at the K of C State Conference. Doug stepped up two years ago as he agreed to begin his journey towards becoming the Grand Knight of our Council. He will take over the Deputy Grand Knight duties in a couple of months, and two years later would then become Grand Knight of the Celina Council of the Knight’s of Columbus . Doug has also volunteered with our fish fries and BBQ Chicken and waffle sales. Doug recently retired from the City of Celina as Fire Chief, and he shared that you may see him this summer driving a lawnmower in the parks. We thank Doug for his commitment to the Celina Council 1800 of the Knights of Columbus.

2023 Family of the Year:  Kevin and Karen Riesen

This time last year, we decided that we could hold the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Degree Exemplifications at our Council after the new program requirements were established. Pat Hull,Tony Schindler and Kevin Riesen stepped up to join the Grand Knight for Celina’s Exemplification team. This has been a big success for our council as we have added more members this past year than we had in all three previous years. The K of C Hall was featured with an Open House earlier this year. You may be able to look around and see the many recent improvements to the hall. The new lights, ceiling tiles and the floor resurfacing. I really liked to hear a couple of months ago that a certain renter was not being sought to return. That told me that Kevin’s pride in our facility has grown with his years in manning the Hall Manager position. It takes many members to raise the funds for our Council so that the Hall can be cared for. When we have someone showing pride to the level Kevin and Karen have, that shows me something. Kevin and Karen should be recognized for this awesome year we have enjoyed. Working to get the additional fish fryer in place to move our line quicker for our Lenten Fish Dinners was a difference maker! We were able to set a new record in sales with our fish fries this year. This year was also a year to switch up our BBQ chicken vendor. After tasting this past Sunday’s chicken, I believe the effort was worth it, as it tasted great – and we sold out! 

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