Highlights of the Meeting: Changes to the calendar including the addition of new events were discussed. The division will participate in the Manassas St. Patrick’s Day parade on 12 March. The need for improvements in our AOH recruiting were discussed and additional plans to do this have been made. More volunteers are needed to sell Raffle tickets for the trip to Ireland.
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. at the George Brent Council of the Knights of Columbus Club Room on Stonewall Road in Manassas by President Pat Sullivan.
Recitation of the opening prayer & Pledge of Allegiance:
Our Father x
Hail Mary x
St. Michael the Archangel x
Glory Be x
Pledge of Allegiance x
Roll call of Officers for Fraternal Year 2022 (Present, Absent or Excused):
| President: | Patrick Sullivan | P |
| Vice President: | Daniel O’Leary | E |
| Treasurer: | Richard Ring | P |
| Chaplain: | Father Edouard Guilloux | E |
| Financial Secretary: | Richard Aleksy | P |
| Recording Secretary: | Michael Eggleston | P |
| Standing Committee: | Douglas Morrison | P |
| Marshall: | Gregory Murray | E |
| Sentinel: | Gregory Gibbons | P |
| Past President: | Tom Masarick | P |
After the roll call it was determined that a quorum (minimum of 15) for the meeting had been achieved.
Minutes from previous meeting, Mike Eggleston: Minutes were distributed to all members and were posted to the Division website on 2 February. Doug Morrison made a motion to approve and Greg Gibbons seconded. The Minutes as posted on the Division website were approved by a unanimous vote.
Presidents Report: The President presented The President’s Report.
Propositions for Membership, Pete Hawkins: None.
Reading of Communications and Correspondence: Mike Eggleston: We received three thank you notes: one from the Irish Cultural Center of Virginia for our donation of $450, one from Able Force (Adopt a Warrior Family for Christmas Program) ($381), and one from TAPS for our $831 donation. This included a TAPS ceremony.
Introduction of new candidates: None.
Reports on:
Catholic Action, Father Edouard Guilloux: No Report.
Charities and Missions, Greg Rebbert: No Report.
Freedom for all Ireland, Dominic Preston: In regard to COVID restrictions: Northern Ireland will lift restrictions tomorrow. The Republic of Ireland has already lifted restrictions. The Pubs and restaurants are open. Restrictions are being lifted. Good to know when selling raffle tickets.
Report on the Standing Committee/Grievance, Doug Morrison: No Report.
Historian, Mike Eggleston: Mike provided a report on the Molly Maguires.
Calendar Events/Special Reports, Pete Hawkins: Pete distributed an update to the Calendar of Events. The calendar is now up on our web site. He led the discussion on calendar events that follows.
Pete provided a report on the results of the Beer Tasting Fund Raiser: Total revenue was $1,143.
March is Irish heritage month. We’ll come up with a flyer on this. Unfortunately, many events are being cancelled. The Alexandria parade has been postponed to Half-Way to St. Patrick’s Day. River Dance is doing their 25th Anniversary tour at Kennedy Center from 15 to 27 March.
The Manassas St. Patrick’s Day parade is 12 March. Since other parades have been cancelled, a big turnout is expected. We want to encourage maximum turnout. Bring your families. We will need to help the marshals along the parade route. We need to get some publicity for this, maybe Hibernian Digest.
The 17th of March is St. Patrick’s Day and the drawing for the trip to Ireland will be done. JP McCusker reported that 724 Raffle Tickets for the trip to Ireland have been sold so far. Additional help is needed to sell tickets after Masses in March. Before the next Division meeting (15 March) we’ll send out an email to get people to sign up.
The Shamrock Degree is scheduled for 26 March.
The Fish Fry is scheduled for 1 April. We need 18-20 volunteers to help with this. A signup list will be circulated at our next meeting. Contact Pete Hawkins for details.
7 May is the Division picnic. We need a host for this. It does not have to be a home. If held at a park we’ll need park permits and they will probably want money. We will also need help for clean up after the picnic. Contact me if you want to host it. If I hear nothing, I’ll put out an email on this.
On 6 June we’re planning a golf tournament. Believe it will be at Prince William. We’ll contact other divisions and invite them. Plan to charge $100 a head and perhaps more. We’ll need to plan for prizes. Any profit will go to charities. We’ll need a few volunteers for this.
Hunger Project, Bart Emanual, No Report.
Immigration, Rick Ring: No Report.
Project St. Patrick, Rich Aleksy: No Report.
Publicity/Webmaster, Brian Tumulty: No Report.
Shamrock Degree: Shamrock Degree is scheduled for 26 March.
Report on the Sick/Visitation, Bill Yochem: Bill received a thankyou note from Paul Hannan for our prayers for his wife.
Strategic Planner, Mike Riley: Mike provided an update for the Strategic Plan
Veterans Affairs, Doug Morrison: Doug gave his report on Veterans Report.
Hugh O’Brien presented a Special Valentine’s Day, Piece of History.
Bills and Claims, Rich Aleksy: ABC License, $55, Name Badges, $103.25; Past President’s Dinner, $87.97; Gaelic Mass, $100.
Financial Secretary, Rich Aleksy, Income: $312, Dues; Bingo Kitchen, $100; Ireland Trip Raffle: $2,450; Military Bracelets, $36; 50/50 Raffle, $33.
Rick Ring provided the Report of the Treasurer.
Unfinished business:
Rich Alesky mentioned that the latest revised By-Laws changing the division meeting date to the second Monday of the month have been approved, it is dated 9 November 2021.
Pete Hawkins mentioned that he is spending as much time on the calendar as he is on recruiting and he is spread too thin. He would like someone to take over as lead for recruiting. He has been working on recruiting materials, like hand-out materials for interested people. So, when you are selling raffle tickets remember to recruit. There are also recruiting events like the Fall Festival. We need to have recruiting materials available for these. We can provide recruiting poster boards to help. Question was asked: Can an interested non-AOH person come to one of our meetings? Answer is yes, but it needs to be approved in advance. Person can wait outside, we take a vote in the meeting and then bring him in.
Vince Fitzpatrick reported that the Audit Report has been completed.
New Business:
Dennis mentioned that during Raffle Ticket sales a lady asked if there is an Irish club that she could join. She left her contact information so we need to get back to her on this. Pat Sullivan will contact her.
Pete Hawkins announced that a St. Patrick’s Dinner/Dance is scheduled for Saturday, 12 March at Knights of Columbus Hall. RSVP by 8 March to Tom Masarick, Tmasarick@aol.com.
Brian Tumulty said that he lost an Irish ring a few weeks ago while he was here for the audit. It is inscribed “Love, Kate.” Contact Brian if you find it.
The Gaelic Mass is on 14th March, the same day as our Division meeting. Rick Ring made a motion to move our Division meeting to Tuesday, the 15th. JP seconded the motion and the members voted to move the Division meeting to 15th March, 7:30 PM in the George Brent Council of the Knights of Columbus Club Room (An email was sent to members informing them of this).
Good of the order:
Brian Tumulty asked for prayers for Pat Murphy, a World War II veteran, who passed away last week.
Chris Sozio asked for prayers for a neighbor of his grandparents who recently passed away.
Vince Fitzpatrick asked for prayers for his son, Joseph who is moving to his own apartment in Dallas, Texas and is having a rough time.
A neighbor passed away from COVID last Wednesday and the widow is not handling it very well. Please keep the family in your prayers
Adjourned: The President closed the meeting with prayers for vocations and cautioned the Brothers against speaking of anything that transpired at this meeting. The President noted that the next Division Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 15 March. The President made a motion to adjourn. Second by JP McCusker and approved by those present. The meeting was adjourned at 8:37 PM.
