SMYRNA—Knights of Columbus Council 12386 from St. Thomas the Apostle Church has been awarded their order’s most prestigious honor, the Supreme Council International Program Service Award.

The award is given to the council which is judged as having the best service program in the order. St. Thomas competed against nearly 12,000 councils worldwide for honors in the council activities’ area.

Grand Knight John Southwood and his family were invited to attend the 119th annual Supreme Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, to accept the award. The international convention included more than 2,500 Knights and their families from 70 jurisdictions. Accompanied by Knights of Columbus Georgia state officers and Archbishop John F. Donoghue, Southwood accepted the award on behalf of his council on Aug. 8.

Winning an award of this caliber is a rarity in Georgia. In the 100 years that the Knights of Columbus have been active in Georgia, only two other councils from the state have won international honors.

The honor came after the St. Thomas Knights began the “Max Fund-Softball Project.” The project started out as an opportunity to form a softball team, have fun and compete in the Knights’ Southeastern tournament.

“This is an incredible honor,” Southwood said of the award. “We didn’t start trying to win any awards. It wasn’t until we completed the project that we looked back and realized we may have something special here. It was obvious the hand of God had touched the program from the outset.”

Southwood said that the Knights had only six weeks to pull together a team to compete.

As many as 34 men came out for practice. With over $1,200 raised in sponsorships from area business, the project, which was originally designed just to break even, produced net revenues in excess of $700. Additionally, when St. Thomas parishioners learned of the softball tournament, seven new Knights were recruited into the council, exceeding the council’s annual membership quota in the first month of their fraternal year.

Though the St. Thomas Knights failed to bring in a victory, tournament officials, impressed with the team’s participation and enthusiasm, awarded them the Columbian Trophy for the team that exhibited the best sportsmanship.

“I’ve never lost five games in a row and still received a huge trophy,” Southwood said. “The signs were there that this was something special.”

After the high levels of participation, successful fund raising and a membership recruitment boon, the council took the net proceeds from the project and established a restricted fund in memory of the late Richard “Max” Maksimowski, the council’s lone deceased member. The Max Fund was established with an initial deposit of $1,000. When Maksimowski’s widow, Rose, heard about the project, she was so moved, she donated $500 toward the fund.

With over $1,500 invested in an interest bearing account, the council is proud to have a lasting memorial to a fellow Knight who meant so much to the council. Plans are to build up the reserves of the Max Fund through future fund-raising efforts to support St. Thomas the Apostle Church and parish in a meaningful way.

The project earned an award for best program in the state of Georgia in May and automatically qualified for international competition. Southwood, who is director of college development at Chattahoochee Technical College, said his trip to Toronto was an opportunity of a lifetime.

“To represent our council and be recognized among the top people in our order was an awesome experience,” he said. “Our council has made great strides in two short years and we’ve been very blessed to have dedicated men who want to help our community.”