Ed Keearns (left) and Milt Spaniel

Ed Keearns is being recognized as December Knight of the Month primarily for:
1) Coordinating Christmas Baskets for the Knights and the Men's Club in conjunction with Village Outreach.  He has also coordinated a few Thanksgiving baskets and may do Easter as well.
2) Keeping records for ham sales including recording sales, coordinating orders with Petit Jean, processing checks, dispensing orders, and helping with gift card delivery.

Ed joined the Knights in 1967 and advanced to the 4^thdegree in the local assembly in 2003.  He has won this award twice previously, and with wife Claudia has earned Family of the Month four times and    Family of the Year 2009.

Throughout the academic year Ed tutors at Jessieville Schools, and he delivers Sacred Heart "3rd week" food donations to Jackson House in Hot Springs.  He is an advocate for CASA  (Court Appointed Special Advocate) and works with the Dept of Human Services on cases of child neglect or abuse.  He participates in the clean-up crew for Sacred Heart Disaster Response Team, and is a substitute driver for McAuley Center. In earlier years Ed was involved with some of the first Mardi Gras celebrations.

As a member of the Assembly he is Chairman of Flags Forever and participates in the Honor Guard.

Milt Spaniel's selection for December Knight of the Month is based primarily on his leadership in the Christmas Charity for Families in Need Ham Sales, which raised a record $1,900, and his continuing assistance with the Christmas Basket Project.

Milt became a Knight in 1957 and reactivated his 3^rd Degree status here in 1999 and joined 4^th Degree in 2003 and served as Pilot in 2004-2005.  This is his 4^th Knight of the Month award and  Milt and Janice were Family of the Month three times and were named Family of Year in 2003.  In 2004 Milt was Knight of the Year for Council 10208 and subsequently Knight of the Year for the State of Arkansas.  As part of that recognition, he was an official delegate to the 122^nd Annual KC Meeting in Dallas TX.  His recognition was based on his extensive efforts with the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity in Hot Springs, part of which was to develop a 10-Year Master Plan for the Order to help erase financial deficits and to get the St. Michael’s Child Care Center On a firm base with the aid of grants, it is a model child care center for others to emulate.  Fundraisers were established through Council 10208 for both Hot Springs Catholics and for Sacred Heart parishioners.

In 2004 he coordinated the placement of the Divine Mercy Image in St Michael’s Chapel.  The Image was later moved to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Chapel in 2008.

Milt has assisted with a number of Council 10208 fundraisers.  In 2006 he helped obtain donated hams from Petit Jean for the Fall Fest, a contribution which has continued for three years.  He has helped each year with the distribution of Christmas Baskets.  Milt is a  member of the Disaster Response Team both as a case manager aand clean-up crew member.

Since joining Council 10208, both Ed and Milt have been very active in their church, council, and the community.  They have continually given of themselves to help those individuals and families in need -truly exemplifying charity, one of the four pillars of the Knights of Columbus.