Winter State Leadership Conference
- Thu, Dec 6, 2018 3:30 AM
Friday November 30th through Saturday December 1st the Michigan State Winter Leadership Conference was held at the Crown Plaza west in Lansing, Michigan. There was a lot of information given to the State and Diocesan Directors as well as the District Deputies. This information will be communicated to the leadership of the local councils at their district meetings.
To everyone’s delight all our Diocesan Chaplains along with the State Chaplain were in attendance. The State Deputy thanked them for finding time in their busy schedules to be with us.
 | The State Deputy Bill Chasse stressed the necessity of communication which was the theme of the Winter Leadership Conference in his opening and closing addresses. He reminded all that communication needs to go both from the top down and from the Directors, DDs and the membership up. |
| The three Amigos; State Program Director Bill Leveque, State Membership Director Jim Kraus and SRGD Joe Ramirez Sr. worked with the leadership team to put together a great program for the weekend. |  |
FSD, PSD Tom Wegener gave us an update of Holy Cross and Monsignor Todd Lajiness along with State Operations Director John Rademacher presented the reason for and the current status of the Sacred Heart Endowment Fund.
Supreme Council Insurance General Agent Brian Barlow gave a presentation on our Supreme Fraternal Benefits while SRGD Joe Ramirez Sr. passed greetings from our Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and informed us of the news from Supreme.
PSD Michigan Charities Director Bill Walsh reported on the status and importance of the Ten for Charity Program.
State Membership Director Jim Krause and State Program Director Bill Leveque presented the updates on the State Action plan and fielded questions from the District Deputies.
The State Raffle team of Gary DeCarlo and Kevin Rowley reported on the 2019 Joint Fundraising Raffle. A big stir was heard in the crowd when the grand prize of a trip to the 2020 Superbowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami was announced. “Did We Tell You / We Love You, Today?”
Saturday morning was spent in four fantastic workshops with much more information for the DDs to communicate to their councils. The workshops were presented by: 1. GR Membership Director Marty Brown and State Training Director Jim Escott. 2. Detroit Membership Director Paul Palka and Gaylord Program Director Larry Herman. 3. Detroit Program Director R. Terry Carl and Lansing Regional Director Ed Strach. 4. State Chaplain Fr. Paul Erickson and Mike DiCosola.
State First Lady Marybeth Chasse reported on the generosity of our Knights in Michigan with gifts donated to Holy Cross amounting to over 2,200 sweatshirts, 500 gift baskets, $11,000 in gift cards along with 280 hats and scarfs and 150 bedsheets. These will be distributed throughout the Holy Cross system as Christmas gifts.
Of course, as an annual tradition the event ended with the State Chaplain, State Officers and their wives leading all in several Christmas Carols.