Our Council hosted another live and in-person Degree of Charity, Unity and Fraternity to initiate new members of our Order on November 17th.

Kenneth Vishinski.

The ceremony was offered in loving memory of Sir Knight Michael Clement, who passed away on July 20, 2023.

Thanks to our new Membership Chairman, Chancellor John Crecco, our in-house Degree Team, our chefs who prepared dinner, and the members who came out in support of the candidates.

Another great council tradition continues with our Adult Christmas Party for members of our Council and Ladies Auxiliary on Saturday, December 16th at 6 p.m., jointly hosted with the Fourth Degree Sir Knights of Mother Cabrini Assembly.

We'll have a complimentary (free!), informal, but very tasty hot buffet dinner including appetizers, roast beef, sausage with broccoli rabe, pastas, roast turkey, and other favorites. There will also be a cash bar and, for a special treat, members of our Ladies Auxiliary will once again be putting out a great spread for the dessert table.

All we ask is that each person bring a gift for the less fortunate in our community, to brighten their Christmas season by helping them put good meals on the table for their families.

This year we are once again collecting donations for the St. James the Apostle Church Food Pantry. The pantry is typically well stocked with canned goods and other non-perishables, but what they need is supermarket gift cards so families can buy perishable items like milk, meats, fresh vegetables and frozen foods, which the pantry cannot stock.

So, please bring ShopRite or Tops gift cards to our party, and we will present them to St. James on behalf of the Knights and our families. The suggested donation is $20 per person, but be as generous as you like.

Since we started this tradition, we've collected over $14,300 in donations to those in need. So let's show our Christmas spirit and do it again for our parish and our community!

Donate by Appointment (Preferred)

Donors and Volunteers Needed

We’re asking you once again to step up and join us at our winter holiday blood drive, set for FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2023 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Carmel Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, located at 32 Gleneida Avenue (Route 52).

For this critical drive we will once again encourage donors to make an appointment. To make an appointment via the internet, please visit the NY Blood Center web site Donor Portal by clicking here.

But we’re happy to announce -- just in time for the New Year -- the return of the highly acclaimed, with family heirloom status, NY Blood Center holiday socks!

We are also very happy to announce, after a long leave, "PINT for a PINT" is back! For your donation of a PINT, you will receive a coupon for a PINT of fermented draft beverage, or a pint of carbonated sugar water, from Fiddlers Green Pub.

Any questions or concerns, or if you wish to volunteer, please call GK Tim McDonald at 845-225-6318, Denis Hanrahan at 845-300-0428, Brendan McDonnell at 845-803-3443, or visit www.nybc.org.

Join us for our Eighth Annual James "J.O." O'Neill Memorial Men's Beefsteak Dinner on Saturday, January 20, 2024!

Doors open at 3 p.m. for the afternoon playoff game and cash bar. Dinner at halftime of the first game (approx. 6 p.m.) includes our signature, charcoal grilled gourmet filet mignon, fries, draft beer or wine, dessert and coffee. Stay after dinner and watch the evening playoff game with us.

$60 if prepaid by Jan. 15 - $70 after Jan. 15 and at the door (unless we're sold out).

SEATING IS LIMITED & WE SOLD OUT THE LAST TWO YEARS, SO RESERVE TODAY!

You can purchase tickets at our December general business meeting on 12/13 by cash, check, or credit card. You may also mail your check and list of guests to: BEEFSTEAK, KofC Council 6318, 10 Fair Street, Carmel NY 10512.

IMPORTANT NOTE: To make this fundraiser a success, we need donations of items for our live auction and raffle table, including sporting event tickets, theater tickets, gift certificates to local restaurants and other businesses, items for gift baskets, and stays in vacation homes. Please contact GK Tim about any donations you may be interested in making or soliciting for us.

Contact GK Tim McDonald (gk@carmelknights.org) or (914) 589-3508 with questions or to donate raffle / auction items.

At our council, we never forget that "Jesus is the reason for the season." That's why we proudly put up the Nativity Scene at St. James the Apostle Church each year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and remove it only after the Feast of the Epiphany. It is the only symbol of the birth of Jesus among all of the other secular holiday displays along Lake Gleneida.

All did not go as planned. Between the inability to find volunteer artists to assist with the restorations and the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to accomplish the restorations for several years. However, thanks to the efforts of PGK Ralph Fleischman, we located a restoration expert with the requisite skills who was willing to take on the project at a reasonable cost.

All of the figures were returned to St. James in time for Holiday on the Lake and, more importantly, for the First Sunday of Advent. The cost of the project was $2,160, generously approved by vote of the membership.

Even if you've seen the St. James Nativity Scene before, you probably haven't seen it like this unless you were around when our Council first built the stable and donated the figures. So take a few moments this Christmas Season to see how beautiful it is once again, serving as our fitting tribute to the glorious birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

After leading a very successful fundraising campaign to purchase all of the necessary wreaths, our Ladies Auxiliary and their helpers will be placing memorial wreaths on the graves of our departed service veterans as part of National Wreaths Across America Day on Saturday, December 16th.

If you wish to volunteer to assist with wreath placement, meet at 11:00 at Raymond Hill Cemetery (165 Route 52 in Carmel, across from ShopRite Plaza).

We continued our recent tradition of donating turkeys to needy families in time for Thanksgiving. This year we assisted local people in need by distributing 82 turkeys and 50 ShopRite $25 gift cards through Putnam's Community Opportunity Program (C.A.P.). We also donated six turkeys to St. James the Apostle School.

Thanks once again to Treasurer Rich Dambra for sourcing and purchasing the turkeys, and arranging for their distribution. And thanks to our members for their generosity in approving the donation of $3,400 to make the purchase of these gifts possible.

The Ladies' Our Christmas Village is the New Highlight of Holiday on the Lake!

We were the focal point of attention for this year's Holiday on the Lake in Carmel with the Ladies Auxiliary's third Our Christmas Village bringing throngs of families, shoppers, and foodies to our Council.

Our Ladies Auxiliary took the event to new heights with more activities, more vendors, more decorations, and more fun than ever before. An assortment of the Hudson Valley's finest food trucks were swamped with customers eager to taste offerings like Belgian waffles, barbecued delights, and gourmet lobster rolls.

Our Council Hall was decorated to perfection as Santa and Mrs. Claus were on hand for "Cookies and Milk with Santa," "Kids' Candy Bingo," and Children's Crafts.

This year's Charity Chili Cookoff for first responders was another hit, with first-place honors being taken by the Kent Fire Department. Their charity of choice for the donations was United for the Troops, a wonderful organization started by our member, Jim Rathschmidt, and his wife Pat.

In the afternoon, our Council held its annual festive Children's Christmas Party, with gifts from Santa for the kids and a homemade dinner for them and their parents and even grandparents, along with the volunteers who helped out with Holiday on the Lake.

After putting together our Council's beautiful parade float in the morning, during dinner we scrambled to assemble 5,000 glow necklaces, and then get them all down to the Paladin Center in time to step off in the Parade of Lights. We were once again one of the parade's lead attractions, with Mr. & Mrs. Claus riding in the sled on our float, and our Council's elves handing out all of those glow necklaces to the crowd lining the parade route, which the police estimated to be more than five thousand spectators.

Making multiple events on one day such a success took a tremendous effort -- spread across many weeks -- by our Council members and Ladies Auxiliary, both in the planning and in the execution. Thanks to everyone who pitched in a lot or a little, with special thanks to Ladies Auxiliary President Kim Crecco and members Kathy Van Coughnett, Kim Heis, and Allison Keating, and to our Lecturer Anthony Falco for heading-up the teams of volunteers that made it all happen.

Not surprisingly, the local press took notice of our accomplishments. Enjoy the extensive photo coverage below, which appeared on the front and center pages of the December 6th edition of the Putnam County Times and in the Putnam County Courier's December 4th edition.

The next meeting of Mother Cabrini Assembly will be Thursday, December 21st at our Council.

The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. It will be held upstairs as there will be another event in our Council Hall at that time.

Remember, a full calendar of events can always be found on our website: carmelknights.org under the Upcoming Events tab. And don't forget to "like" our Facebook page for up-to-the minute announcements, photos, event listings, and items of interest.