Worthy Brother Knights,

Membership recruitment and retention for the first nine months of the fraternal year have been truly outstanding.  I congratulate my Brother Knights across the State of Texas on recruiting over 3,500 new members in the July - March period while keeping drops on course for our annual fraternal goal of 1,200 or less.  Over 600 councils across the state have recruited at least one new member to-date and many councils have already attained their Membership Quota for the fraternal year.   In fact, there are a significant number of councils that have already attained over 200% of their new member recruitment goal.  Thanks for all the hard work and the record number of First Degrees being conducted this year.  Without our dedicated First Degree Teams we could never reach the heights we have attained.

That being said, we need to continue to focus on our State Goal of bringing in 5,050 new or re-admitted members during this fraternal year.  The Councils that have been recruiting need to continue recruiting during the last three months of the fraternal year and to strive for Double or even Triple Star Council.  With our world, our country, and it's values changing so rapidly it is more important than ever to grow the Order and to re-enforce our commitment to Family Values, Right to Life from conception to natural death, and the Four Principles of the Order.

We need for the 100 plus Councils around the State that have not recruited a new member yet to set up a recruitment drive with their pastor and to strive to re-vitalize their councils with new members.   We need for every council to be recruitment active and for every parish to have a Knights of Columbus presence in it, as our founder wished.  Where we don't have active councils we should be striving to re-activate suspended or dormant councils, to start new ones, and to set up round tables.   Every parish and every eligible Catholic gentleman needs and deserves to witness and to have a chance to be a part of the presence and example of the Knights of Columbus.  We can change lives for the better by our example and our good works.

We've had recruitment drives and blitzes in the Fall and the Spring and every Council should now have a list of prospects that they should be in touch with on an ongoing basis.  Invite those prospects and their families to council activities and functions.  Ensure that your council schedules at least one family activity each month that prospects' wives and children, and your members' wives and children can be a part of.  We must provide wholesome and entertaining family activities and rewarding church and community service projects that will incentivize our members and their families to want to participate and our prospects and their families to want to become a part of.

Tony Fontanelli
State Recruitment & Blitz Chairman