Some moments are holy, some moments are unholy.
You Get to Decide!
Movement takes root in Cherokee & Sioux City areas
Have you ever yearned for inspiring local news that uplifts your spirit and gives hope in an otherwise anxious time? Well, the Knights in the Siouxland area have sponsored a project that rises to this level of "Wow that’s amazing"!
It began as an idea to use the book Holy Moments by Mathew Kelly & Dynamic Catholic to inspire positive change. Since its publication, individuals could order 6-packs of this book for personal distribution at no cost other than postage. But could more be done to reach even more people?
Fr Dan Rupp formerly of Sioux City 5660 and currently from Cherokee/Holstein parishes surely thought so. He initiated sending the Holy Moments book to all mailboxes in those two communities. The very positive response received prompted others to say why not do the same in Sioux City? A group of religiously minded people (Jack Grubb, Father Dan Rupp, Mary Lehr, Sid Shoemaker, Don Stevens, and Dave Ferris) – along with brother knights from Sioux City Council 5660 put their minds and connections together to make it happen.
The mission: send the Holy Moments book to each household in Sioux City and several immediately surrounding communities – 48,000 total addresses.
The why: inspire people of goodwill to reach out in charity to someone in need; these actions will act as yeast in dough to encourage caring responses and thus transform the community into one of caring and seeking the common good.
The how:
Engage a handful of civic leaders and brother Knights to raise funds and services in kind to fully execute the project. Along the way billboards were procured, the Sioux City Journal ran multiple news stories, and 5 commercial radio stations are airing PSAs about Holy Moments.
Partner with Siouxland Catholic Radio aka Gabriel Communications to utilize their 501(c)3 and bulk mailing permit. Each book is addressed as coming from the radio station, so all return correspondence ends up there.
Partner with brother Knight Chris Shanahan at the Mail House whose company helped with labeling, sorting, and delivering the books to the post office. The approximate cost to mail an individual book is about 35 cents. Using the Mail House resources addresses are confirmed accurate - after 10 days only 2 out of the 48,000 mailed books were returned as undeliverable.
The response:
Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott endorsed the effort and thanked the group for taking the initiative.
Bishop Heelan Catholic High School, Briar Cliff University, and Morningside University have received books for each student and pledged to distribute them when school resumes this fall.
20 out of 27 other Catholic Schools in the Diocese will be participating in an age-appropriate Holy Moments school program that reinforces the message each week throughout the year.
Stories continue to come back to St Gabriel Communications about the effect this book has had.
Not all will read it, and only some who do will act, but the hope is that if only 3% of recipients begin making choices that lead to more Holy Moments, the effect will change the Siouxland local community for the better.
The entire project is one of evangelization and outreach to encourage making choices that lead to holy moments and collaborating with God to bring about His Kingdom here and now. An intentional benefit is that by mailing the book to every address in Sioux City the initiative reached many people who would not otherwise have heard this message at their local church – including fallen-away Catholics, Protestants, and the growing cohort of unchurched people. While Holy Moments is Catholic in its origins, this outreach is to every one of goodwill.
The Opportunity:
Nationally only 10 people can request an unlimited number of Holy Moments books. We are lucky that one of them is Siouxland native Jack Grubb. Requests for free books in quantity must go thru him.
Spread the word about what is happening once folks read the book. Local volunteers are currently making plans to expand upon the Sioux City project in the surrounding counties or beyond as willing volunteers step forward.
Local area coordinators can take the lead in sending books to their community either labeling and mailing themselves OR raising money to have the Mail House provide this service. Essentially, the number of books necessary to do all of Iowa will be made available at no cost; but only through this special Iowa program. The goal is to incrementally provide mailings of Holy Moments to every community in the state of Iowa. Remember the cost is about $350 for each 1000 addressed mailed if the model from Sioux City is utilized.
In addition to community-level projects, Knights may choose to request that 6 books each be sent to family and friends anywhere in the United States including Hawaii and Alaska. This is possible only thru this project and the number of addresses you can request is not limited.
Local Knights of Columbus leaders interested in learning more about this project and how they might implement it with family & friends or in their entire community may contact: Jack Grubb using holymoments@iowakofc.org.
News from Cherokee –
News from Sioux City -